


Angelic Layer

by NatusmeKokoro



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa Zero, Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode, Dangan Ronpa: Kirigiri, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, Dangan Ronpa Zero Spoilers, Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode Spoilers, Dangan Ronpa: Kirigiri Spoilers, Super Dangan Ronpa 2 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-04-18 11:32:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4704566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NatusmeKokoro/pseuds/NatusmeKokoro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natsume Kouko is an ordinary girl who awakens in Hopes Peak Academy without memories. While weary, Natsume soon discover that she is in a decidedly abnormal scenario, a warped game of "kill" for those who have passed. Armed with a knife, a set of allies and a mentality with the ability to kill, Natsume progresses forwards as she survives in an effort to discover, or die trying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude

"GUAH!!"

A boy with brown hair screamed in agony as his body hit the ground. Where his body’s torso once was was a bloody hole.

"Mitomo!"

"You bastards!"

A boy with bleached blond hair rushed at the five in front of him.

"Deal with them."

"Roger."

A literal giant slithered towards the boy and grabbed his head. With a single swift motion, the boy was slammed into the ground and a cracking noise was heard.

"Boss…we gotta go."

"Yeah, that be about right. Let’s go!"

The two remaining boys suddenly fled into the woods. Before long, one of them stopped.

"Shiruzuki, what in the world are you doing!?"

"Staying behind. You’re the boss after all. It’d be a shame for one of his subordinates to outlive him…"

"Augh, you’re right. See ya…"

The leader ran off into the dark, leading a boy behind him. The boy stood there, trembling slightly.

"Heh, always knew my time was coming."

"Oh, trust me, _it is."_

"Wah? ARUUGHH!!!"

~

Standing out in a clearing was a leader and two of his subordinates. On the ground were the bodies of two boys, both dead with the colour gone from their faces.

"How simple."

The leader suddenly heard a rustling noise in the bushes. Turning his head, he saw a boy and a girl exit, dragging a boy with a ponytail behind them.

"Eh, wasn’t hard. That said, he was tougher than the others. I mean…"

The boy threw the boy he was carrying to the ground. His body had several bruises and cuts, with a drastic gash around his right shoulder. He was breathing heavily, almost as if he was suffocating.

"…he actually put up a fight."

"Good work, you two. Now, let’s see what we can get out of him…."

Unsheathing the katana that he had attached to his hip, the leader lifted the boy up and put his sword to his neck.

"Talk or I’ll cut you."

"As if. Bastards like you just deserve to die and fade away. I’d never succumb to you!"

"So be it."

In one swift stroke, the leader hacked the boy neck open. The boy looked dazed for a bit as a gunky red blood left his neck, before his body fell to the ground, lifeless.

"Well, that’s three more of them gone. And yet he still got away…"

"Boor-ing! Boring! Give me an actual challenge!"

"So, what is our next mode of operation?"

"We’ll continue with what we are doing. After all.."

The leader threw his head back and looked at the moonlit night sky, adjusting his glasses as he did so.

"…until we eliminate her, _we won’t stop._ "


	2. Prologue: The Amnesiac Angelic Spirituality: Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For starters, refrain from commenting until you've read the latter half of the prologue. They're meant to be read as one entity. 
> 
> Also, please bear with my writing style. The way the story is written is in part influenced by light novels and this is my first time I've published something, so apologies if stuff comes a bit stilted at times.

_"What…is this? How could I…why is this happening to me? How? Howhowhowhowhowhowhow-"_

My eyes opened in a jolt. Was that a dream? I…how could I…

"Hm, so you’re finally awake."

A voice wakes me up fully. I’m lying on a bed. Over my head is a window, bringing light in that causes my eyes to strain. Turning my head, I interviewed my surroundings. I was in some kind of lab. Detailed all across the walls with no rhyme or reason were various sketches, diagrams and other such drawings of the human brain. A few messy bookshelves, a desk, some papers spread across the floor…

"What, you’re just staring everywhere? Should I just diagnose you with permanent brain damage and be done with it?"

My analysis of the room was interrupted by a voice. Sitting in the middle of the room was a dark haired boy who appeared more interested in the manga he was reading than actually looking at me. He was wearing a lab coat drooping off his shoulders, a tie barely done up and a conspicuous lack of shoes. His hair had the appearance of someone who didn’t wash regularly, with a single strand protruding outwards.

All in all, if the room didn’t say otherwise, I’d of assumed he lived on the streets. Half-assed didn’t begin to describe it!

"I-I have a brain you know!"

After I spoke, I spent a few seconds contemplating the sound of my own voice. For some reason, I for some reason, I didn’t recognize it.

"Oh, so you finally spoke. Guess that means I only have to diagnose you with _partial_ brain damage."

"Wh-who the hell are you to say that!?"

By now, Greasy Boy was already pissing me off. Leaning back, he avoided my glare and just stared at the ceiling.

"So, what’s your name then?"

"My name!? My name is-"

My response to his question was interrupted by own thoughts. Searching my mind I…I couldn’t find anything. Nothing at all. How…

"I…I don’t know."

"As I guessed. You’re amnesiac."

"Eh? How can I…"

Greasy Boy stuffed his hand nonchalantly into a bag and from it picked out a mirror.

"Here, look at yourself."

I was handed the mirror and looked down. Staring back at me was a high-school age girl with silver hair that a strand protruding outwards, along piercing red eyes.

It was a face I didn’t recognize.

"H-how…?"

"As I said, you lost your memory. From the looks of it, completely."

I couldn’t believe it. It’s true, but I couldn’t believe it. What was I? How-

"Actually, now that we have that out of the way, I’ll give you something important."

"What?"

"Your name tag. I found on you when I first found you unconscious. Natsume. Your name is Natsume Kouko."

Greasy Boy handed me a name tag with, in neat kanji, "Natsume Kouko" written. So…that was my name. Well, this is at least something.

"And with that, best we be off. Here, get dressed."

Without the ability to say anything, my face was suddenly hit with a set of clothes. Peeking through the cracks, I was able to make out Greasy Boy getting off the chair he was on and finally putting some shoes. Well, sandals actually, but still. He then started walking towards the exit.

"Hey! What’s your name!?"

Suddenly, Greasy Boy stopped. Sagging his shoulders, he stood there, silent. For a moment I actually though there might be more to him.

Then he spoke.

"Matsuda. Matsuda Yasuke."

~

After Matsuda-kun left the room, I started getting my clothes on. Starting with my undergarments, which were black (hopefully that didn’t mean anything about me), I put on the white shirt, the brown skirt, tied the ribbon in on my shirt and put on the also brown blazer. I then put on my white socks and put on and tied my shoes. I neatly folded the hospital gown, laid it on the bed and….

"Heeey, wait up!"

I ran through the hallway connected to the lab, chasing after Matsuda-kun. Apparently, to him, the courtesy of leaving a girl when she got dressed didn’t extent to escorting her. I haven’t known this guy for an hour and he was already pissing me off.

"Ah, you’ve changed. I was wondering when you’d finish."

"What are doing leaving me like that!?"

"What, isn’t common courtesy to leave someone when they’re dressing? Besides, no boy would like to look at an ugly body like yours anyway."

Matsuda-kun’s words made my face go a florescent shade of red.

"He-hey! Who are you calling ugly!?"

"Well, let’s look at it this way. Now that you’re dressed in your uniform, you actually look halfway presentable."

Wait? This is _my_ uniform? If so, then that means I was wearing it when Matsuda-kun found me. If so-

"EYAGH!! You undressed me! Pervert!" I shirked.

"Hmph, throw all the baseless accusations at me you want, it isn’t changing anything. Come on, follow me." Matsuda-kun ignored me and continued walking. Rude.

"Where are we, anyway? You haven’t explained anything to me! Where are we even!?" I called as I continued chasing after Matsuda-kun. Eventually, we headed down some stairs and reached a door.

"Oh, you finally said something sensible. Well, I guess I should tell you where we are." Matsuda-kun slumped his shoulders and grabbed the door handle. "Welcome-"

The door opened and light came in. Within seconds, I felt like I was in an endless dream.

"-to Hopes Peak Academy."

~

Matsuda-kun explained to me what Hopes Peak Academy was as we walked through the school grounds.

Hopes Peak Academy was what was known as the academy of hope. Formed around 80 years ago by Kamukura Izuru, the school was designed to propagate one thing; talent. It took in students known for their amazing talents in countless fields and built them to become the country’s future. While the school initially started small and relied on government funds to survive, an "excess project" lead by the school Steering Committee lead to it growing considerably. For every student that attended the main course, they were given the talent moniker of "Super High School Level". Matsuda-kun introduced himself as the Super High School Level Neurologist, talented in all matters of the brain.

Now, the school was divided into four portions in a diamond formation. There was the main school building, the staff buildings (where we were at, apparently Matsuda-kun is authorised to have a lab there), the old school building from before the expansion (I asked Matsuda-kun why it hadn’t been demolished and he responded that he had no idea) and the building for the Reserve Course. Dividing those areas was a thick forest, along with a central plaza with a fountain in the center for the students to be at during break, the latter of which we were currently around.

When I asked Matsuda-kun what the Reserve Course was, he responded that it was the "excess project" he had mentioned earlier. Through a large sum of money, parents could send their children to what was essentially a middle class education. One could purportedly get to the main course if they demonstrate their talent, but few to no instances of that ever occurred. Matsuda-kun warned me to never go there, least I be eaten alive.

"Huh? W-why?"

"Simple, resentment. Reserve Course students despise the students of the main course. After all, it’s just a trademark that’s being used to manipulate people."

"A trademark?"

"That’s more or less what it is. Just a thing used to gain brand recognition and manipulate people into giving money to the main school. Can you imagine how the two-thousand plus students there would feel about being used? "

"Okay…"

I don’t know why but, from the way Matsuda-kun described them, the Reserve Course seemed downright…inhuman. We continued to walk until we reached the main school building, a gigantic complex which made me feel like a dwarf in comparison.

"Wow…this…is a big place."

"Why thank you captain obvious. Can you actually have something worthwhile to say for once?"

"H-hey! I have a brain you know!"

"Whatever."

Matsuda-kun sighed and walked into the institution and I followed him in. Inside was a clean, well-furnished room, walls plastered white and the lights on. Everyone seemed normal. Well, except for one thing…

"Uh…where is everyone?"

"Doesn’t matter. What’s important is getting you to your class."

My class? When did my class have to do with this? Then again, I _did_ own a uniform, so presumably I was a student here. I’d ask more, but, knowing Matsuda-kun, he’d probably skew the conversation so that he could say it was irrelevant or that it was the fault of my own amnesia, as he had already done with his status at the school, his background, my reputation, how he found me and what day it was.

"Okay…" The frown I had was only changed by Matsuda-kun continuing to walk. After shaking my head in frustration, I followed after him. We passed through several hallways, until we ascended two stories. All the while, I didn’t look around much, just noticed something weird.

"Uh, where is everyone?"

It was weird, no one seemed to be present here. No students in the classrooms, no teachers passing us, no one. It was bright outside and, even if it was a Sunday, Matsuda-Kun had told me the Academy was a dormitory, so there should had been someone here.

"…."

Matsuda-kun didn’t respond at all. Okay, there was _defiantly_ something wrong here. No "normal" high school student wakes up in a neurologist’s lab with amnesia in the most important academy in at least the country, an academy that was seemingly abandoned in the middle of the day no less.

So, by now, we were approaching the corridor facing out to the windows. After walked forward a bit, Matsuda-kun finally stopped walking.

"Um…why did you stop?"

"We’re here."

"Huh?"

"We’re at your classroom. Do you need any more explanations than that?"

"Uh…no…"

"Good."

Matsuda-kun opened the door and I walked in. So far so-

"Halt! Give your identification!" The minute I walked in, a boy wearing what was presumably the male school uniform immediately stood up and started pointing at me. He had short black hair and red eyes which gazed into me. A few seconds of him glaring and I felt he was about to kill me.

"Ishimaru, relax. She’s with me."

"Oh, Matsuda-kun!" The boy, Ishimaru-kun I guess, almost immediately bowed. "My dearest apologies for that hubris!" Ishimaru apologised and immediately sat down on his chair again.

"Kyoudai, you really should calm down with those sort of things. I mean, we _knew_ Dr Asshole was bringing a new kid in." A rather gruff voice spoke to Ishimaru-kun. Turning my head, I saw it belonged to a boy so ripped with muscles he neither did up his blazer nor wore a tie. He also had what resembled corn on his head. Out of fear for my jawline, I decided not to question him on the last point.

"Like _you’re_ one to talk." Matsuda-kun sneered in response.

"HEY!! Want to get your head smashed in!?"

Matsuda-kun’s snark was clearly not warranted by that guy. I feel him.

"Um…it’s good to meet you, whatever your name is." A rather quiet voice squeaked from another part of the classroom. The speaker was a girl with brown hair and a small figure who had a laptop on her desk. Weirdly, she had a pretty deep voice for a girl. Had I not seen her, I might have assumed she was a guy.

"Hey, are you going to introduce yourself or not?" Matsuda-kun’s words went down my neck like a snake looking for prey in the grass.

Standing proper, I attempted to introduce myself. "Hello, my name is Natsume Kouko. As of this day, I am transferring into this class. Pleased to meet you!"

"Pleased to meet you, Natsume-san!" From the front of the room was a blue haired girl with a pleasant smile and what appeared to be a friendly demeanour. Well, looks like there might be normal people here.

"Natsume Kouko? How interesting…" The speaker this time was a gothic Lolita style girl, dressed like an old Victorian doll and with giant drills in her jet black hair, sipping a cup of tea. She had red eyes and skin so pale that she looked more than a little dead.

"So you’re the new chick? Well, you’ve got a nice look." The one speaking was some guy sitting close to the window with dyed red hair and a look that overall screamed "punk". Upon looking at him, I immediately noted to avoid him if possible. Something about him put me off instantly.

"Natsume Kouko-dono, you shall be a great ally." The…thing who spoke was a boy whose fat made him look more hamster than human. Upon noticing him, I adverted my gaze immediately to avoid giving myself eye strain.

The lot of them…looked friendly enough. I was a bit creeped out by the Lolita, but everyone otherwise looked pleasant enough. Perhaps they could be friends with me?

"Now, Natsume-kun, it is most gracious time to meet you!" Ishimaru-kun got up and shook my hand.

"As the self-appointed class representative, I hope we will form a bond that will continue through to the end!" Ishimaru-kun continued to shout. I’m pretty sure he’s trying to do well, but his voice…

"Now, to begin with-"

WHAM!!

The constant noise being produced by Ishimaru-kun was interrupted with an even louder noise being produced.

"What was that!?" I asked.

"They’re here…Natsume, follow me!" That was Matsuda-kun!

"Wha-what are you talking about!?"

"There’s no time to talk!" Matsuda-kun opening the door and ran out into the hallway.

"Exactly! Natsume-kun, after him!" Ishimaru-kun ran out of the classroom after Matsuda-kun.

"Wah? Guys, wait up!" I immediately ran after the two. No way was I not getting answers.

All in all, this was turning out to be long day.

~

"DAMN YOU!!"

After running down two s tories, I followed Matsuda-kun to what appeared to be the school lunchroom. Before I even got in, I could hear the sounds of a guy screaming followed by an impact. Already this wasn’t looking good.

Upon getting in, I actually saw a group of students gathered around about five students in the center of the room. I couldn’t see Matsuda-kun among the students assembled, but Ishimaru-kun was there, confronting the group in the center.

"Stand down! What you are doing is a violation of both school rules and basic ethics!"

"Really? Tch."

What followed was a blur of motion almost too fast to comprehend. One of the students rushed forwards and kneed Ishimaru-kun in the gut. Ishimaru-kun was sent flying and crashed into a table, splayed there like a broken doll.

What the hell was going on?

"S-stop it!" I yelped.

"Oh? Who would you be?"

Ishimaru-kun’s attacker turned to look at me. He had hazel hair cut in a neat bob cut, glasses covering brown eyes and a glare that seemed to go into my soul. His uniform was largely normal, except for the detail that his blazer had an extension that lead to it forming some kind of coat and he wore white gloves with silver decals on his hands. Around his hip appeared to be a sheathed katana. On his right arm was some kind of red band.

"Na-Natsume Kouko…" I responded in a limp tone.

"Natsume Kouko? Interesting…" A…thing leapt to where I was in a single bound. He was about two meters tall, had long black hair that was clearly not washed, eyes that formed miniscule slits, a long pointed tongue and pale skin the made him look akin to a corpse. He wasn’t wearing the school uniform and was instead wearing a traditional boy’s uniform, the same shade of black as his hair. All in all, he looked more like a snake than an actual human.

"Madarai, don’t intimidate the girl." The guy with the katana said while gesturing. Madarai…was that the snake man’s name?

"Ah, yes. My dearest apologies." The snake man lowered his head and leapt back to where he was previously standing.

"Wh-who are you!?" I yelped at the five.

"Ah yes, I believe we haven’t introduced ourselves, have we? We are the Hopes Peak Academy Student Council." The guy with a katana spoke to me in a mocking tone. The Student Council? What Student Council does something like this?

"My name is Murasame Soushun, Super High School Level Student Council President. I hopefully assume my role and status in the Council is obvious to you." The guy with a katana spoke. No wonder the snake deferred to him. Murasame-kun was the leader.

"Now which one would like to introduce to Natsume first?" Murasame-kun decleared.

"Me. I’d _always_ like to talk to a cute girl." The first to respond to Murasame’s question was a girl about my height who stepped forward. She had long, neat black hair, blue eyes and a very noticeable amount of lipstick and makeup. Her blazer was black instead of brown and she didn’t bother to do up her shirt properly, leaving a substantial amount of cleavage that let everyone see her…large, to be blunt, breasts. Add in long black socks and she looked a professional, walking cocktease.

"Tsumaki Satsuki, acting Hopes Peak Academy Student Council Vice-President and Super High School Level Beautician, skilled in all ranges of beauty and style. That said, you’ll know me better as the "diva" of the school. Come on darling, let me give you a makeover." The girl introduced herself as.

"Um…that’s a nice outfit you got there. Sure you attract a lot of guys with it." I said to Tsumaki-san, trying to keep the mood in the room as pleasant as possible.

"Boys don’t interest me. Now, a cute girl like yourself on the other hand, darling…" Tsumaki-san blew a kiss at me. Okay, _that_ I didn’t expect…

"Tsumaki, quit flirting." Murasame-kun said bluntly.

The minute she heard, Tsumaki-san drooped her head. "But I wanted to get more familiar with her…" She moped.

"We’re here to…introduce ourselves to Natsume. Not for you to go on another one of your "conquests"."

"You’re no fun…"

"Well, that was Tsumaki’s introduction out of the way. Now, onto mine." The snake man walked forwards.

"Greetings, Natsume Kouko. My name is Madarai Isshiki. I am known as the Super High School Level Bodyguard." He introduced himself as.

"Bodyguard? Oh what?" I asked him.

Murasame-kun spoke up. "Of Hopes Peak Academy. Madarai has spent his life protecting the schools officials." The snake merely nodded.

"Is there any reason he isn’t speaking?"

"Madarai doesn’t speak much more than what needs to say." Murasame-kun responded.

"Okay then. So…who’s next?" I asked.

"Oh, me, me! I always wanted to introduce myself!" A girl shorter than everyone present poked her head out from behind the Snake. She had pink hair in two pigtails, amber eyes and beauty mark underneath her left eye. Her skirt had been modified to be absolutely full of frills and, in place of the blazer was a custom one that was a mix of dark blue and cream white. In her hands was an umbrella. Weirdly, despite looking as girly as one I assume she possibly could, she spoke with "boku" as if she was a guy.

"Names Ootsumeiko Kirara, but you can call me Kira-chan! I’m the Super High School Level Cutie! I mean, isn’t it great, knowing that there exists so many cute things in this world!? Cute bunny rabbits with their cute ears, cute little kitties with their cute tails, I mean, isn’t it adorable!? I’m not the sort who appreciates beauty, that’s more Satsuki-chan’s repertoire, but there’s so much adorable in the world! And for that, I officially induct you part of my official cutie bri-"

The mile long speech she making at a breakneck pace was interrupted by the snake, who suddenly came up from behind and cupped his hand over mouth.

"My apologies, Ootsumeiko tends to get…hyperactive, at times. Also, for reference, she did not actually give her talent there." The snake informed me.

With a bit of tugging, Kira-chan got free of his grip. "Stop spoiling everything, Isshiki-kun!"

"I’m merely making sure our…introductions go smoothly."

"Oh come on! You never let me introduce myself! Just stop being one big fat killjoy and-"

"Can you two be quiet? Besides, there’s still one more who needs to introduce himself…" Murasame-kun sternly cut in, breaking up the conversation between his bickering teammates.

"Exactly." The remaining individual among the group, and the speaker, was a boy with brown hair and green eyes who had a similar hairstyle to Matsuda-kun, if more slicked. His appearance was for the most part normal, even the uniform. He looked a bit

"H-hi, my names Shingami Yuuya. You can call me Yuuya though, you know? Being the newest member and everything. I feel awkward being referred to with my surname…" And any intimidation I felt was subsequently vaporized. The way he was talking, you’d think he didn’t want to be there.

"I’m the Super High School Level Eternal! The "eternal" student, meant to lead the world into a new future!" Yuuya-kun suddenly made a dramatic pose. Was this…supposed to impress me?

"Oh yeah, like your grandfather, right?" Kira-chan snickered.

Yuuya-kun’s face went bright red as those words were spoken. "Ki-Kira-chan!" He yelped in embarrassment.

"What? It’s true…" Kira-chan went, rolling her eyes.

"But still…"

"Still nothing! Earn some credit here!"

"He-hey! I’m eternal!"

"Say it all you like, Eternal-"

"Ootsumeiko, stop, for everyone’s sake." The Snake said.

"…All right, just for you Isshiki-kun." Kira-chan responded while pouting.

By now, the ominous feeling I had in the room had ceased to exist. Rather, with the way everyone was bickering, it felt a bit like watching a bunch of school children. Still…

"Um…why are you here again?"

"Oh, we haven’t answered that, have we?" Murasame-kun adjusted himself as he glanced at me. "My apologies. Everyone, let’s talk to the girl and explain why we’re here…"

The bickering members of the Student Council suddenly went silent. Okay, this was unsettling.

"As you know, we are the Student Council. You know what the Student Council does here, don’t you?" Murasame-kun was the first to speak.

"Under the Steering Committee, we enforce justice on the students. It is our duty our students." The Snake said to me.

"Exactly! The Student Council are the number one students of the world! Those who are selected are the most gifted of all!" Kira-chan said as she pumped her first into the air.

"Exactly. Student Council members are elected via two processes. Either you get made a member through manual election or special recommendation. Either way, you have to have a good reputation to be a member." Yuuya-kun said.

Tsumaki-san was the next to speak. "For that duty, we wipe out parasites that infect the school. Discipline, hope, the future. All of it comes down to our skill. Oh and, for me anyway…" Tsumaki-san blew another kiss at me. "Cute girls."

Parasites?

"Um…what’s this about "parasites"?"

"Well, let me put it like this." Murasame-kun was glaring at me. "Imagine, if you would, that the Academy is the central root of Yggdrasil. As the root gathers nutrients, it picks up parasites that create an infection on the tree itself. In response, the body creates antibodies that counter and wipe out the infection. _We_ are the antibodies…"

"In this case, the parasite is despair. We, the Student Council of the Academy of Hope, will do anything to contaminate despair." The Snake continued on from where Murasame-kun left off.

"Despair is the ultimate enemy of Hopes Peak Academy! Anyone or anything that creates despair will be dealt with accordingly!" Yuuya-kun made a determined glare at me.

"We’ll do anything to preserve the hope of this academy. We’ll even kill them!" Kira-chan added on joyfully.

Kill them?

"Wha-what’s this about killing…" I said in fear.

"What, you didn’t get that? If there’s something creating a massive bother in the Academy, killing them is the best option. I mean, we can’t go any other way, can we? If something takes root, you’ve just got to cut it off at the stem…" Kira-chan’s look was of someone who probably killed animals in her backyard. This was definitely terrifying.

"Bu-but killing-"

"But what? In this world, one can’t exactly pick and choose on where to go. It’s when we wipe out the parasite…that we will truly be happy." Tsumaki-san smiled at me.

"Indeed. I think that’s all the information we have to share currently. Team, let’s go…" Suddenly, Murasame-kun made a signal and the five began walking forwards and past me. As I felt the terror wash over me, I heard Murasame-kun make one final statement that made my blood boil.

"Natsume Kouko, consider yourself part of the parasite."

I’m a what?

This can’t be happening. I can’t be a parasite. I’m only a high school student with amnesia, right? What could I have done? Am I even a student here? What was I-

My thoughts were cut off as I heard footsteps. I turned and saw Matsuda-kun walking towards me.

"So, you’ve had your first encounter with them. Not a very pleasant one, is it?" Matsuda-kun said to me.

"No, not really-wait, you overheard us?"

"Yeah, I did. You really needed that sort of introduction." Matsuda-kun looked over my shoulder to where Ishimaru-kun was, slumped on a table unconscious. "Anyway, we should get going. I need to show you your room…"

"Aren’t you going to explain anything!? Those guys want me dead!" I exclaimed.

Upon hearing what I said, Matsuda-kun paused before talking to me. "I’ll explain everything to you eventually. For now, just stay calm and follow me. If you’re quiet, I’ll explain a few more things to you on the way."

Matsuda-kun began walking out of the room. Surveying the damage around me one last time, I shook my head and followed after him.

~

As we walked through the dorms, Matsuda-kun explained to me who my classmates were.

The girl with blue hair was Maizono Sayaka, Super High School Level Idol. She was the head member of Japan’s most popular idol group, with literally millions of fans worldwide.

The redhead punk was Kuwata Leon, Super High School Level Baseball Player. He was the star player of a Japanese baseball team. When I asked as to why he looked absolutely nothing like a baseball player, Matsuda-kun said Kuwata-kun personally aspired to become a punk rocker. More power to him, I guess.

The girl with the laptop was Fujisaki Chihiro, Super High School Level Programmer. She was a genius programmer and had experience doing work for major companies. Matsuda-kun noted however that she was frail, and that I should be kind around her. That didn’t sound hard.

The guy with corn for hair was Oowada Mondo, Super High School Level Gang Leader. He was the leader of the largest bouzoku gang in Japan, the Crazy Diamonds.

Ishimaru-kun’s full name was Ishimaru Kiyotaka, Super High School Level Hall Monitor. He was the head of the discipline committee at his previous school and was dedicated to enforcing justice. Certainty explained his behaviour, though I was glad he didn’t agree with the Student Council’s methods.

The hamster things name was Yamada Hifumi, Super High School Level Doujin Author. He was an otaku (no surprise) known for creating doujin of immense success. Matsuda-kun also told me he had openly professed to have no interest in the 3D world. Yep, definitely one to avoid.

Finally, the Lolita was Celestia Ludenburg, Super High School Level Gambaler. She was a gambler known for her luck and ability to lie. When I questioned her name, Matsuda-kun said it was pseudonym and left it at that.

Eventually, we reached a door where Matsuda-kun stopped.

"So, is this my room?" I asked Matsuda-kun.

"For now on, yeah, it is." He responded.

"Wait, what do you mean "from now on"?"

"Well, it used to be my room."

"AUUGH!!" I cried out on the floor in despair. Not only do I have to content with this guy on a day to day basis, but I have to practically share a room with him!

"Relax, drama queen. I’ve cleaned the dorm out so there isn’t anything here but the essentials. I’ll just use my own lab to sleep in."

I immediately got up. "Really? Thank you!" I said as I shook Matsuda-kun’s hand.

"No need to be so giddy." Matsuda-kun rolled his eyes. "Really, you’re just like _her_ in a way…"

"Her?" I questioned Matsuda-kun.

Matsuda-kun suddenly made a face akin to someone in deep contemplation before speaking. "…Never mind." He said as he opened my dorm.

Waltzing into my dorm, I observed my surroundings. There wasn’t much, really. A bed for me to sleep in, a bedside desk, a lamp, a small table…when Matsuda-kun said he cleaned the dorm out, I didn’t expect to this degree. The place looked practically vacant.

"It’s…a bit empty in here." I said.

"I’m sure you’ll fill it up later." Matsuda-kun, who was standing in the doorway, responded. "Well then, guess I be off. I have work to do." With that, Matsuda-kun walked off.

With that, I lost all my energy and slumped on the bed. All this, all these things…all I needed was rest.

Staring up at the ceiling, I shut my eyes and went to sleep.

~

WHAP!!

A loud sound jolted my eyes open. Sticking my head up I realised that it’s someone knocking on my door. As I shook my head, I looked at the clock. It says 11.23 PM. Okay, this is ridiculous. Who in the world would be knocking on my door at this time?

Getting out of bed, I walked up to the door. "Who is it?" I asked.

"No one you’ve met before." The voice on the other end was breathy and largely androgynous, though I assumed the speaker was male.

"No one I’ve met before? Does that mean you’re a stalker? Wait, I’ve only been around for half a day, I couldn’t have stalker…" My mind was starting to wander off, though that might have just been a symptom of my drowsiness.

"I’m a stalker? That’s a laugh. But no, I’m not." He responded. "You can call me an…informant, of sorts."

"Informant? What kind of informant? Are you the sort who try to pass shady new religions onto unsuspecting individuals?" I was _not_ getting tricked.

"No, I’m that either. I’ll…tell you at our meeting spot. Okay, Natsume-san?" I suddenly heard footsteps. It appeared, whoever was talking to me, he was leaving.

"Meeting spot? What kind of meeting spot? Don’t leave me-" My objection was interrupted when I noticed a slip of paper at been slipped under my door. I picked it up and read:

"Meet me at the fountain. The first secret is upon you."

There was some more details, but, between the darkness and the awful handwriting, I couldn’t make a bit of it out. How convenient.

That said, it seems I might get some answers to certain facts I wanted.

After giving it some thought, I decided to give in and go to the requested location. I mean, nothing too bad can happen, right?

Since I was still in my school uniform when I went to sleep, I didn’t change and instead left my room as I was. Looking down the hallway, it seemed whoever had talked to me had ran off. Must be fast on his feet.

With that, I walked off, searching for answers to the mystery I had found myself in.

~

Heading outside into the dark, it appeared that the gate leading to the central plaza was locked. No problem. I just climbed over the fence. After that, it didn’t take much longer before I reached the fountain.

I walked around the place for a bit. It seemed like there was no one here…

"Well, I didn’t expect to see _you_ here."

My heart froze. Turning, I saw a giant emerge from the shadows…

"It’s…it’s you! Jakkun!"

I pointed and screamed at him. Jakkun, that Snake, was glaring right at me!

"…Jakkun? My name-"

"Doesn’t matter! You’re a snake, so you’re Jakkun!" I shouted at him.

"…You’re not stopping are you? You’re just like Ootsumeiko…" Jakkun put his hand to his face. Suddenly, he straightened up. "Whatever, it matters not."

Huh?

"You’re one of our "targets", Natsume Kouko." Jakkun entered a fighting stance.

"Ta-targets?"

"Indeed, for you, "despair", are an enemy of Hopes Peak Academy. Prepare to die, Natsume Kouko!"

Jakkun rushed at me. I couldn’t even contemplate what he said before I felt a hard impact on my chest and was sent flying into the air. With a bit of luck, I landed on my feet, panting heavily. I could taste blood in my mouth.

"What was that for!?" I yelled, winded.

"I am the Super High School Level Bodyguard. My role is as the guardian of the Academy itself. Enemies like you shall be eliminated with utmost destruction!"

"But this…isn’t killing students detrimental to that?"

"Despair…"

"What?"

"Despair is the thing that contaminates the school. You, the despair…have your very existence of a sin."

"Wah? Then…"

I couldn’t move. As my thoughts went through my mind, I couldn’t do anything. What was I? Why was here? Was this something I was fated to be? What-

Jakkun rushed in and a jab knocked me to the ground. Blood spurted out of my mouth as I coughed.

" _Who am I?"_

My world went black as I felt an impact on my chest.


	3. Prologue: The Amnesiac Angelic Spirituality: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a general note, the profiles at the end of the chapters are going to be a regular thing. They're styled after the profiles from the series proper, sans the blood types because I'm a lazy bastard and the weights because weights in DR tend to be complete and utter BS anyway.

I opened my eyes. I was in my room, lying on my bed. The light coming into my dorm lightly reflected into my eyes.

_"Was all that a dream?"_

"Ah, you’re awake. Good."

That was Matsuda-kun’s voice. Darting my head, I spotted him sitting adjacent to my bed, reading manga and eating from a bag of chips.

I instantly got up. "What are you doing in my room!?" I screamed at Matsuda-kun.

"What? I found you out cold outside. I just took you back and decided to stay around. If you think I took advantage of you, I didn’t. No guy would do an ugly girl like you anyway."

"I’m not-wait, outside? What was I doing outside?"

"As I said, I found you there. You were out cold around the fountain in the Central Plaza."

The fountain? Then…it wasn’t a dream. "Was there anything there?"

"Not really. I mean, it was dark anyway. Anyway, you can get ready. Your first full day is upon you." Matsuda-kun got up and left the room. Déjà vu.

I got out of my bed. I was in my school uniform, so thankfully Matsuda-kun didn’t undress me again. Had he undressed, I would’ve assumed it took pleasure in it. After standing up for a bit, I felt completely fine. Weird, given the beatdown Jakkun gave me, I should logically have at least a broken rib or two.

After brushing my hair for a bit, I left my room. The fresh air made me feel like another person. Already this was looking like a better day. Hopes Peak Academy, you’re going to see Natsume Kouko take you on-

"Make way!"

Who was that?

As I began to turn to the direction of the voice, I suddenly felt something headbutt me. Within seconds I was flipped onto my back and staring at the ceiling, a piece of bread in my mouth. Well, this destroyed a good mood.

"Duagh! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t mean to! Sorry!" A shrieking female voice screeched at me.

Lifting my head, I saw the speaker was the girl who had collided headfirst with me. She was bowing repeatedly in an attempt at an apology. Well, good to know she feels apologetic.

"It’s nothing, okay?" I said to her so she would stop apologising. I started getting up. Thankfully, I didn’t have any books on me so nothing needed to get picked up off the floor.

"Really?! Thank you thank you thank you!!" The girl who hit collided with me suddenly got up herself, grabbed my hand and started shaking it repeatedly. After a good three tugs it felt like my hand was going to fall off.

"That’s enough, okay?" I said to her.

"Okay!" The girl suddenly let go of my hand and smiled at me, giving me my first good look at her. She was shorter than me and had blue eyes and long black hair simular to Tsumaki-san’s, but wavier. She didn’t button up her blazer and her breasts, from what I could see, were rather large. Bigger than mine, at any rate.

"Uh…who are you?" I asked.

"My names Reika! Ushiro Reika! Call me Reika though, Ushiro is unacceptable! I’m an ordinary schoolgirl of an ordinary school!" The girl introduced herself.

"Ordinary schoolgirl? But isn’t this place-"

"OH!! Oh yeah, sorry! I have a talent, I think. But I kind of forgot, so right now, I’m an ordinary girl!" Reika-san beamed at me.

"So…you have amnesia then? Wow, didn’t expect that!" I rubbed the back of my head, attempting to keep up.

"Um, why? Do you have something against amnesiacs?"

"Well, it’s just, I have amnesia and all. So it was kind of funny knowing there was another student with lost memories…"

"You have amnesia!? You poor thing! Actually, I like your hair, silvers really good, you know? Actually, can you introduce yourself? You haven’t and I’d really like you to so…" Okay, she was starting to get carried away.

"Really? Okay, it’s good to meet you, Ushi-"

"REIKA!! Use Reika! Not Ushiro!"

"But-"

"But nothing! If want to be Reika, let me be Reika!"

"Um…hi, Reika-san. My names Natsume Kouko."

"Really!? Hi back, Natsume-chan!" She made another friendly smile towards me. It seemed that, excitable as she was, Reika-san was a pleasant girl. If one with some unexplainable hatred towards her surname.

"Um, I should really be going to class…" I started backing away, only to be halted by Reika-san tugging on my arm like a child.

"Aw, can’t I come with you!?" Reika-san looked like a small puppy whimpering like that. All things considered, I couldn’t just say "No." to that face, so I decided to say yes.

"Okay, you can come." I said. "Yaaayyyyyy!!" Reika-san said as she clung to me. "Thank you Natsume-chan!"

I rolled my eyes and began walking without talking to Reika-san first. Reika-san happily followed behind me. Having an excitable girl like her around is certainty going to make this day interesting….

~

Starting off, me and Reika-san exited the dorms. Since the dorm building were separate from the main school building, we had to go through the outside portion of the school grounds. By the time we were outside and heading to the Central Plaza, Reika-san had already talked my ear off with a diatribe about pancakes.

"And that is the secret to a healthy breakfast, Natsume-chan! Hey, what did you eat?"

Reika-san’s talk about food was making me hungrier than I already was. Since I woke up in Matsuda-kun’s lab, I haven’t had a single thing to eat. Honestly, I’d take drugged food over no food.

"Ugh, my tummies growling…"

"Growling? I can growl! Gao, gao!"

"Thanks, Reika-san."

"All in days’ work, Natsume-chan!"

After we arrived at the Plaza, Reika-san suddenly came to a stop. Her eyes suddenly darted to what appeared to be a gathering of students.

"What’s that?" Reika-san asked.

I glared at where the students were gathered. That area, it was the fountain…where Jakkun attacked me.

Almost instinctively, I ran off to where the students were gathered, leaving Reika-san behind.

"WAH!!? Natsume-chan, wait up!" Reika-san chased after me.

After a little bit of running, we arrived at the gate. Standing around was Maizono-san, looking like she had just seen or done something and didn’t want to talk about it.

"Maizono-san!"

Maizono-san turned to me. "Oh, good to see you again. Natsume-san is it?" She said with a friendly smile.

"Yeah, that’s my name."

"And I’m Reika!" Reika-san darted into the conversation and clung to her back. What was up with this girl?

"Uh, yeah, don’t mind her. Anyway, what happened here?"

"It’s…best you look yourself." Maizono-san made a worried expression and pointed to where the majority of the other students were looking. As soon as looked myself, I felt my blood drain.

What everyone was looking at was a tree. Rammed through the tree was a log, splintered at an unnatural angle. Splayed everywhere, especially around the impact point of the log, was blood. The smell made me nauseous.

I walked up to it. There were two boys kneeling in front of the tree. I looked a bit closer and realised those two boys were Matsuda-kun and Ishimaru-kun.

"Ah, Natsume-kun! Good to see you!" Ishimaru-kun stood up and gave me a pat on the shoulder.

"Wha…what happened here?"

"That we’re still figuring out. Do you think we’d be looking otherwise?" Matsuda-kun made another snide remark. I swear I was going to punch him in the face one of these days.

"Okay then…what do you know?"

"Other than that it’s a log slammed into a tree with bloodstains? Not much. Though we did find something. Here, look." Matsuda-kun held his hand out. The minute I looked down, my heart almost froze.

It was a black piece of fabric with bloodstains on it. It was the same sort of fabric used for a school uniform.

It was _Jakkun’s_ uniform.

Did…something… _kill Jakkun?_

"Who…who did this?"

Matsuda-kun stood up. "No one knows. A good deal of people here are no doubt thinking the same thing though."

"What?"

"Urashiwa Kaoru."

"Urashiwa? Who’s Urashiwa?"

"Oh, I think I know him! Actually," Reika-san suddenly spoke up. For a moment, I’d forgotten she was here with us.

"Urashiwa Kaoru is a notorious student of the Reserve Course." Matsuda-kun interrupted Reika-san and explained. "Over the past few months, he’s assembled numerous gangs that have caused wanton violence to the main course. Needless to say, he’s near the top of Student Council’s hit list."

"Wha…what kind of violence?"

"Oh, the normal stuff. Mostly property damage, but his group hasn’t been unwilling to assault anyone from the main course to the point of near death if they find him or her walk about. Rumour has it that they even killed a teacher and hid his body in the school basement."

"They…killed a teacher?"

"Unfortunately, that hasn’t been proven or not. But, in spite of that, that missing person case has just increased the suspicion and antagonism between the two parts of the school. You understand that?"

"I….understand that."

Ishimaru-kun suddenly stepped forward. "All right, everyone! While further investigation is conducted, I wish for all students to remain around the main school building! Do you have clear!?" Was there a single sentence he made that didn’t involve him shouting?

With that most of the students shrugged and decided to walk off, not that I blame them, I wouldn’t want to be here either. Suddenly, Reika-san and Maizono-san approached me.

"Hey, Natsume-chan, since everyone’s going to the main school building, how about you go with me and Maizono-chan?" Reika-san asked me.

"Um…thanks, Reika-san."

"I hope we’ll be able to be friends, Natsume-san." Maizono-san said to me. The way she spoke those words gave me the impression that she had a warm personality. A thankful difference to Reika-san’s hyperactivity.

"Hey, Natsume-chan, catch me if you can!"

"Hey, Reika-san!"

Reika-san gave me a light elbow and then ran off in the direction of the school building, with me giving chase. I tried pushing back the thoughts of what I saw.

For now, I’ve got to enjoy being a student.

~

The first thing I said upon entering was a wish to get something to eat. It seems the exhilaration of seeing Jakkun’s uniform made me temporarily forget how hungry I was. After I moaned about my stomach rumbling again, Reika-san dragged me and Maizono-san to the lunchroom to eat. Maizono-san ate from a bento she made herself, Reika-san got some pancakes and I ate a tantalising piece of meat.

"So…you an idol, aren’t you, Maizono-san?" I asked.

"Yeah. It wasn’t even a major deal at first. I just got lucky and found an agency that recognised my talent." Maizono-san made a friendly smile at me.

"Hey, Reika-san, Natsume-san, what are your talents actually? I don’t think you’ve told me…"

"Nu-uh, me and Natsume-chan don’t remember our talents!" Reika-san chimed in.

"Wait, what?" Maizono-san looked confused.

"Yeah, I….lack my memories. Reika-san apparently doesn’t remember her talent either."

"Really? That’s…a shame, really. I wanted to know more about you…" Maizono-san dropped her head slightly.

"Yeah…hey, it’s still nice to know about you though."

"Really? That’s…nice to hear, you know." Maizono-san smiled at me.

"So, I guess we’re friends?"

"…I guess we are!" Maizono-san looked happy.

"Yay! We made a friend!" Reika-san cheered.

"Okay, so, now that we’ve had our meals, how about we go to class?"

Suddenly, Maizono-san froze.

"Huh? Maizono-san….?"

"Um…I need to go. See you later!" Maizono suddenly grabbed her things and ran off out of the room.

"Why did she do that?"

"Who knows? Maybe it was something you said?" Reika-san said.

"But I only said I wanted go to class with her…" I mean, what made her so worked up? I just wanted to be her classmate. Why would she…

It suddenly hit me. This was because of the teachers. All the time I’ve been here, I haven’t seen a single adult. While Matsuda-kun did say that the schools teacher were largely what could be best described as talent scientists, there should still be plenty of members of the school board walking around. Yesterday, the student council started a ruckus in the lunchroom and no teachers called them out. There was quite possibly a murder last night and yet not a single adult was keeping students away from the crime scene.

Something was most defiantly wrong.

"Hey, Reika-san, how long have you had that partial amnesia of yours?"

"Hmm…I think I woke up a few days ago? And I was like "What’s my talent?" and all that. Does it matter?"

"It does. Have you attended a single class?"

"Not really? No one’s come looking for me, so I’ve just been hanging around in the dorms."

"Who have you met?"

"I think I’ve seen a couple of students around? There hasn’t been any teachers though…"

Bingo.

I quickly got out of my chair. "I’ve got to go. See you later, Reika-san." I began to run out of the room myself.

"Huh? Natsume-chan!" As I ran off, I heard Reika-san call to me. I’m sorry, this is something I’ll apologise to you later.

I hurried myself out of the school building. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t what I think it is. It doesn’t matter about what it is. All need to do is find Matsuda-kun and ask him some direct questions.

I ran across the ground. My world needs answers. My world-

"Gihihihi!"

I stopped in my tracks.

"Who-who was that!?"

"Gihihihihi…"

That was that voice again! From a different angle…

"Who are you!?"

"Me!" Exclaimed a boy’s voice. "Good to meet you!"

A small child, a male I presumed based on the voice, hopped out of the bushes grinning. He was almost completely covered in a hood that resembled that of a frog, green with small ears on the hood. He was wearing a mask over his eyes, though his mouth was exposed. The mask itself was plain black with the exception of one small detail, what resembled a jagged red lightning bolt over his right eye.

"It’s really nice to meet you!" The boy skipped over to me. He leaned in so close that I fell back onto my behind.

"What…what’s your name?"

"Oh, yeah, I haven’t introduced myself, have I!?" The kid in front of me grinned as he made a small hop backwards.

"I’m Kero!"

"And I’m Neko!" I heard a high-pitched voice, followed something rustling in the bushes behind me. Turning my head, I saw another child, this one female going off the voice and the bangs protruding out of the hood, come out of the bushes. She was wearing the same sort of hood as Kero, only hers was white with orange stripes and cat ears. She had the same sort of mask as him, only hers was white with a single black eye over where the right would be.

"Why…are you kids here? This is a high school…"

"Really? Well…" Kero put a finger to his mouth.

"…we don’t know!" Neko finished the sentence.

"Wha-what do you want with me?"

The two kids walked towards each other and grinned at me.

"We want-"

"-to play with you~!" They were clearly finishing each other’s sentences. This was going to be interesting…

I started getting up. "Okay then…what are you?"

"We’re twins!" squealed Neko in joy.

"We’re the sort who love to play around and enjoy ourselves!" Kero followed up.

"Well, what kind of games do you want to play with me?" While these kids unnerved me, I didn’t want to upset them.

"Weeeelllllll…." The pair began circling me. "We want to play a scavenger hunt with you!"

"A…scavenger hunt?"

"Yep!" The pair stopped in place, still grinning ear to ear at me. "Onee-chan, you have a lot you want to know, right? Soooo…"

"WE WANT TO LEAD YOU TO THE TRUTH!!" The pair yelled simultaneously.

"…The truth? So you know…" These two weren’t going to tell me. If I was going to get anything out of them, I best play to their game. "Okay then, where do I have to go first?" I asked.

"Well…" Neko turned right, staring off into the distance.

"You see…" Kero turned the opposite direction and stared off himself.

"That place…is where you began the day!"

Where I began the day? If so…it must be my room. Normally, I’d question how these kids knew where my room was, but I had a distinct feeling these weren’t "ordinary" children. And besides, if it got me answers on what was going on, I would do it.

"Thanks, you two."

"You’re welcome, Onee-chan!" Neko tilted her head and smiled at me.

"May luck and hope be with you!" Kero went as he did the same.

Not wanting to listen to more, I turned around and took off running.

As I ran, I heard faint echo of laughter…

~

After I reached the dorm building, I began walking to my room, where the twins said my first clue was. Upon arriving, I was surprised to see someone hanging around the entrance to my room.

It was Matsuda-kun.

"Oh, Matsuda-kun! It’s…it’s good to see you!"

"Ah, Natsume." Matsuda-kun turned to me. He was wearing his typical fowl expression and had his lab coat on. Come to think of it, he had that lab coat on when he was investigating the scene at the fountain. Did he _ever_ take that thing off?

"Why are you here? Didn’t think you to be the type who hung around girls rooms."

"If you’re implying what I think you’re implying, stop it. In no way, shape or form am I what you think I am."

"Okay…why _are_ you here then?"

"I just felt like walking around. Do you really feel that you’ll get anywhere with this line of questioning? Anyway, why are you here? Didn’t I tell you to interact with your classmates?"

"I…" I couldn’t lie here. Given what I was searching for, lying would be the last thing I’d do. "I’m searching for the truth."

"The truth?"

"I’m trying to find the answer to all the questions I’ve been getting!"

"Calm down. I’m pretty sure you just need a rest. Everything-"

Matsuda-kun was suddenly interrupted as I slammed my foot down and started screaming.

"I’m not calming down! I wake up in your lab without my memories and you barely explain anything about me! I haven’t seen a single class, a teacher or even an adult! And then you have a student council that seems okay with killing students, and have apparently targeted me as well! In fact, I go outside in the dark, then one of them shows up, seemingly kills me, then I wake in my room and he’s apparently dead! GIVE ME SOME ANSWERS!!"

Matsuda-kun looked genuinely concerned. After a small break he finally spoke. "…So, you’ve figured it out. I congratulate you."

Matsuda-kun began walking past me. "At sundown, meet me on the school rooftop. I’ll explain things there."

I stood there, listening to the rhythm of Matsuda-kun’s footsteps. I’m sorry Matsuda-kun, but I can’t wait for answers here.

I walked up to the door and opened it. Looking through the room everything looked normal. Nothing out of ordinary. Weird, I thought the twins said they left something for me-

Found it.

I rushed over to my desk, where I had been left three items. One was a knife embezzled with the insignia of Hopes Peak Academy. The second was a gun. The third appeared to be dairy or journal of some kind. Picking up the journal, I noticed that, aside from all the clashing colours on cover, that it was sealed with what appeared to be a hard buckle and a lock. No key though. I looked at the title. While the handwriting was awful, I was able to make it out. It read "Otanashi Ryouko’s Memory Notebook.".

Looking down on the table I noticed a note which had been hidden under the journal. I picked it up and read it. "Look under."

I looked under the desk and, sure enough, there was a belt there, along with another note. Fastening the belt on, I saw that it had two holsters, one on the left for the knife, and one on the right for the gun. After putting the two weapons in their respective holsters (disturbingly, I didn’t feel uncomfortable holding weapons like that, could this be tied to my memories?) and read the note.

"Go outside. We’re sure you’ll find your way."

Well, if that’s not vague, I don’t know what is.

I laid the journal back on the desk and began to leave my room. While it isn’t much, I’m still going on those twins words. With that, I began walking…

"My my, are you looking interesting…"

I froze in place as I heard those words and several footsteps. The voice…it belonged to the mystery man who talked to me last night. I turned around and saw him walk up to me. He was wearing a long black jacket with a hood, along with black jeans. Aside from that, his physical appearance was almost a complete mystery. His jacket was done up, he wore his hood up and his face was covered by a plain white mask covering his eyes, similar to the ones the twins wore.

"So…you’ve decided to show yourself."

"Well, it not like I could’ve just not shown myself. I mean, I need to meet you after all." The guy gestured with his right hand. Weirdly, he was keeping his left concealed in his pocket at all times.

"…Why are you here?"

"Why am I here? Really, you should be asking why _you’re_ here, but that doesn’t really explain much, does it?"

"You’re…making absolutely zero sense." Seriously, with the way this guy was talking to me, you’d think he was on drugs or something. Well, that would explain his outfit at least.

"I am? Well, that’s not surprising. No one’s ever tried to understand and succeeded." The guy responded in a jovial tone.

"Anyway, I noticed your belt. Good to see you’re wearing it. It’s not bad, isn’t it?"

"My belt? So…you got that and had the twins deliver it to me?"

"You’d be correct there. Made the belt myself. It’s comfortable, isn’t it?"

"So you sent journal too, right? What’s in it that’s important enough that you’d have to seal it!?"

"Journal? What are you talking about?"

"You know, the journal in my room! "Otanashi Ryouko’s Memory Notebook"!"

"…I have no idea what you’re talking about. The only things I had those children give you were the belt and the weapons. I don’t recall such a book ever being involved."

I decided to drop that line of questioning. From the way he talked, it seemed he legitimately had no idea as to what I’m talking about. "Those children? What’s your connection to them?"

"Oh, the kids? Heh, let’s just they….assist me. Nothing more."

"Okay then…I have one last thing to ask of you. What’s your name?"

The boy merely stood in place. "Oh, my name? That…is something I threw away a long time ago. Anyway, I best be leaving. I wish to see the hope you can create…Natsume-san…" The boy threw his arm up as if to signal at something.

"Asmodeus, activate."

The boy clicked his fingers. After a brief flicker of light, I could feel a breeze somehow going through the hallway. Wait, how? How could-

OMPH!!

I suddenly felt something akin to a hard impact, not unlike to when Jakkun attacked me, hit me in me in the chest and send me hurtling backwards. I landed on my with deafening thud and my knife slid out of the holster. Ugh…that hurt…

Getting up, I looked around a bit. That guy, the one with a mask, had vanished. Weird, I’m pretty sure didn’t black out…

Whatever happened, it didn’t matter currently. I’ve got more pressing matters to deal with after all.

After slipping my knife back in, I took off running out of the building. I leaped out and landed on my feet. Round about here-

"Gihihihihi…"

I heard those kids laughter. It was emitting from the woods.

"Gihihihihi…"

It’s clear what this laughter is for.

They’re leading me.

"Gihihihihihi…"

I followed the voices. The thick forest looked almost endless, but I could move still, being guided with those kids voices. I’m going to find it. I’m going to-!

My enthusiasm was interrupted as I felt my foot get hooked on a branch and I toppled onto the dirt. Me and my luck, at this point. I shook my head and started to get up.

"So, what do you mean one of ‘em can’t be trusted?"

I froze momentarily as I heard a boy’s voice. Ducking behind a tree I looked and listened to what sounded to be two boys talking about something.

"Yeah, I’m sure about that. Granted, I don’t know _who,_ but one of them remembers more than they say they do."

"And that means one them can’t be trusted?"

"It means one of them knows more about what’s going on than the others. Who it-wait, who’s there?"

Shit, one of them heard me. Probably heard me breathing. This isn’t going to go well…

"What was that, boss?"

"Sounds like someone’s been spying on us. Hey, come out. You can’t do much hiding like that."

There was a silence before I responded to the boy’s question. "…You’ve got me there."

I stuck my hands up akin to a criminal who was found out and walked out from behind the tree. I kept my head down, so to not have anyone look at me directly.

"Well, you look trustworthy." One of the boys stepped forwards. He was noticeably older than me and had brown hair that was tied back with a headband. In yet another massive alteration of the school uniform (did this school just have no uniform regulations period?) he lacked the blazer completely and instead wore a purple vest. The guy behind him was mostly just a standard delinquent type, no blazer, sleeves rolled up and hair that was dyed dark red.

"Um…thanks…" I sheepishly responded.

"No problem. Anyway, I haven’t seen you before. What’s your name?"

"Na-Natsume. Natsume Kouko…"

"Natsume? That’s not bad name, sounds intellectual. Names Urashiwa myself. Urashiwa Kaoru."

I froze in place. This guy…was Urashiwa? If so…

"Hey, Urashiwa-kun? What do you, um, do here, exactly? At the school, I mean." I asked as I placed my hand on my knife. While Urashiwa-kun looked friendly enough, I know from Matsuda-kun that he and the guys he lead were willing to commit outright murder.

"Well, I’m what the folks at the Reserve Course see as a "leader" so I guess that’s what I do? That said, I don’t really have much in the way in those credentials. Anyway…" Urashiwa-kun smiled and muttered something under his breath. What was he-?

My thoughts were interrupted as I suddenly felt a hard impact on the right side of my waist. Unlike the previous two instances, I was actually to some degree prepared to be attacked, so I was able to land on my feet this time.

"I saw you clutching that knife of yours. You’re one of the Student Council, aren’t you? Weird, I haven’t seen you around…" Urashiwa-kun walked towards me.

"You’re not getting anything out of me, murderer!" I instinctively grabbed my knife with my right hand and unsheathed it.

"Murderer? Who is this about? Any reason you’ve got a grudge against me? If it was one of the others, well…"

"Jakkun! The Snake! You killed him last night!" I pointed my knife at Urashiwa-kun.

"…I have no idea what you’re talking about. Anyway…" Urashiwa-kun smiled and rushed at me.

I could hardly react. With a single dash, Urashiwa-kun moved at abnormal speed and delivered a pointblank punch to the face which I only barely avoided. Tightening my grip on the knife, I suddenly rushed forwards in a fast jab. Urashiwa-kun smiled and, as I leaped forwards, darted around my attack and once again delivered a sharp jab to my stomach.

"All right, this chicks an easy picking!" Hearing someone behind me, I turned and saw the guy who was with Urashiwa-kun leaping at me. Almost instinctively, I jumped out of the way. Looking at where I was previously standing, I saw that the guy was carrying a lead pipe. Yup, these guys were _definitely_ trying to kill me.

Shuffling backwards into the clearing, I was able to notice Urashiwa-kun was standing back as the other guy lumbered towards me. Immediately afterwards, I had to react as the guy swung his pipe low at my feet, attempting to trip me up. As I leaped back again, I saw the guy attempting to slam the pipe into my midsection. Leaping forwards, I turned slightly and deflected the pipe with my knife. Sizing my opportunity, I tightened my grip on the knife and hacked at his right hip. I leaped back yet again, this time in order to increase the distance between the two of us.

"Tch, just a scratch. Do you really think something like this would hurt?" The guy grinned, clutching his side. Before I could question how he was standing so well, he rushed at me again, once again clutching the pipe in his hands. This time, though, I didn’t have to dodge. Instead, I put my knife up and essentially locked swords with the pipe. I knew this wouldn’t last. After all, he was bigger than me and no doubt had more raw strength than me. If so, I needed to find some way to…

Found it.

Sliding my knife down to weaker looking part of the pipe, I pushed forwards with all my might. After a bit of creaking, the knife slashed right through the pipe. The end that had come off was sent flying into the air and landed with a soft thud a distance away from us as he stared at the half he still had in his hands. As he looked at his destroyed weapon, lost and confused, I began back away from his again. While he might have lost his weapon, I knew by the look in his eyes as we fought that he was still dangerous.

"Clever girl. Guess you’re more than you looked."

The guy smiled as he wiped blood off his face. "Well, looks like I’ve gotta finish it the easy way!" I clutched my knife in preparation of what was coming next. As I did so, I heard the guy quietly say something under his breath.

"Yaki, Activate."

I could believe my eyes on what I saw next. The guy stood still as he was surrounded by what looked like black flames. I blinked a bit, trying to ensure myself I was looking at something that wasn’t actually there. I-

My thoughts were cut off as I suddenly I felt a brutal impact. The guy has slammed his fist into my chest and I was sent flying into the air. As I hit the ground, I smelt what seemed to be blood in my mouth. I started getting up, all while panting heavily.

"You know, you actually started out pretty tough. Then it just turned out you were like all the rest. _A small fry._ " The guy cracked his knuckles and grinned at me.

This was it. I was going to die. There was no one saving me. I have no way to fight out of this. I only have memories of less than two days and yet I’m going to die. I’m-

_"So, things aren’t looking good, are they?"_

What was that voice?

_"Me, silly."_

_"Who are you?"_

_"Someone who can help you. All you need to do is accept my help…"_

If this was a normal scenario (for a given value of "normal" for what one could call my "life") I would have asked more questions to this sudden voice in my head but, given my options, I can’t really argue…

_"It’s not like I have much of a choice, so…yes…"_

_"Thank_ _you, Natsume-san."_

The next few moments were a blur. I felt my hand grip hard on my knife, the guy screaming at me, a sudden burst of exhilaration and then a few seconds of complete darkness. When I opened my eyes, I looked down at my hand. My knife was red with fresh blood.

There was silence before Urashiwa-kun, who had been silent and observing the entire fight, screamed.

"TSUYOSHI!!"

Turning around, I saw what had happened. The guy I had been fighting (I guess his name was Tsuyoshi?) was lying with his back to the grass, still. His chest had been deeply cut open, with blood sprayed everywhere on the grass, and he was abjectly staring into the sky, his eyes a mixture of abject confusion and horror.

I, or rather the being inside of me, had most definitely killed a man.

Urashiwa-kun walked into my line of vision and gave me a long, serious glare before he spoke again. "That power…inside of you. I won’t forget it. Natsume Kouko…we will meet again."

Urashiwa-kun turned ran off into the woods at inhuman speed.

Before I had time to think about what had just had just happened, my thoughts were interrupted by a shrill voice. "Oh my god, Natsume-chan, that was amazing!" It was Reika-san, running up to me from out of the woods.

Appropriately, I made the most horrified expression I could manage. "Rei-Reika-san! What are you doing here!?"

Reika-san looked as excited as she could possibly be. "Well, since you ran off like that left me alone, I decided there had to be a super-duper good reason why you did, I decided to investigate! Then I got lost, but I heard some weird laughter, so I followed it! Then I found you! You were being confronted by those two scary guys! Then it was like woosh! Bang! Slash! And you won!" Reika-san gave her hasty espousal all while being as animated as she could possibly be. It was so hasty in fact that I could barely make out half of what she was saying.

"Wait, you saw that fight? If so…then you saw…" I dreaded to contemplate what Reika-san thought of me killing someone.

"Oh that? That was amazing! It was like, you were on even, and then he made a comeback that had you beat! Then you did that reaper thing and you won! IT WAS SO COOL!!" Reika-san sounded close to fainting from excitement.

"Um…okay…" For the time being, I didn’t want to question Reika-san on why she had practically zero reaction to me killing someone.

"Your awesome, Natsume-chan!" Reika-san gave me a cheerful thumbs up.

"Thanks, Reika-san." I looked up at the sky and noticed the colour. "Reika-san…I want you to come with me. There’s…something I have to do, and I want you with me…"

~

It was evening and, as requested, I was on the top of the main school building, waiting for Matsuda-kun to arrive. I had brought Reika-san with me. Matsuda-kun hadn’t said anything about bringing anyone with and, if I was going to get some answers about what was going on, I wanted to have the first friend I had made here with me.

"Hey, is he going to actually arrive? Sure this isn’t some kinda prank he’s pulling?" Reika-san was stretching her legs and pouting. Frankly, I was starting to get sick of waiting myself. It had been about 10 minutes and we were still waiting.

Eventually, I heard some footsteps. It was Matsuda-kun, walking onto the roof. He didn’t look happy.

"So, you arrived here as I requested. See you brought your little friend along as well."

"Yeah, I did. Have you any problem with that?"

"Given I never said you couldn’t do that, not really." Matsuda-kun shrugged.

"Thanks Matsuda-kun!" Reika-san cheerily waved at Matsuda-kun, who rolled his eyes in response.

"Okay then, Matsuda-kun? Can you start explaining what’s been going on around here?"

"…I will. First, I’ll establish one very important fact…"

Matsuda-kun paused, looking like he couldn’t find the right words. Finally, he spoke.

"You, along with everyone here, are dead."

There was another long pause before I spoke in response. "What…?"

"As I said, we’re all dead. This place isn’t Hopes Peak Academy, at least, not normally. It’s a carefully made, if imperfect, replication of some sort. It is, for a lack of a better term, the afterlife."

I could barely comprehend what Matsuda-kun was saying. "You…you’ve got to be joking. I’m…dead?"

"Exactly. Everyone here was, in the past, killed. While most of us don’t remember the exact events of our demises, we all eventually ended up here."

"Wait, you…don’t know how you died. So me and Reika-san aren’t alone with the memory problems?"

"Not really. What most of the students lack is memories of the circumstances of their _deaths._ What you suffer from appears to be loss of all conscious memories entirely."

"Okay…I’m to understand…so, next question I have. What is everyone…doing, here?"

"What are they doing? Well for starters, as you’ve probably seen by now, there’s a three-way divide between the regular students, the Student Council and the Reserve Course."

"Yeah, nearly getting killed by Urashiwa and one of his thugs kinda helped me realise part of that."

"You were? Well, that would explain the blood." Matsuda-kun had noticed some of the blood on my skirt. I had taken off my blazer to try to hide it, but Matsuda-kun was still perceptive enough to notice.

"Whatever. So what’s this all about?"

"There’s been a…rumour floating about. It’s relating the possibility of harnessing something in this dimension that will allow the students to _return to life._ "

"Return…to life?"

"Yeah, that’s what a lot of people have come to the conclusion on. And, for one reason or another, the Student Council and the Reserve Course have decided they’ll achieve "resurrection" by killing each other."

"They….want to kill each other?"

"Are you surprised? As I said, the Reserve Course despise students of the Main Course for looking down on them. They’ve in response done some less than pretty things to them in response. The Student Council, being the main student authority of the Academy, they respond in kind. It’s a vicious cycle."

"…Okay then. How does my class and the other students fit into this?"

"Well…" I suddenly heard footsteps. The one who subsequently walked onto the roof was Maizono-san, who leaned back on the fence, hanging her head down as if she didn’t want to look at me. She was followed by Fujisaki-san, Kuwata-kun and so on. Before long, my entire class was on the roof.

"This class is…under my protection. The students of the Main Course and the Student Council aren’t on the best terms either, but I’ve kept this class under my eye. You see, for…reasons, I’m also a target of the Student Council."

"So then…why am I a target of the Student Council?"

Matsuda-kun shrugged. "Hell if I know. Anyway, under my command, this class have carried several missions. Natsume, I want _you_ to become their leader."

"M-me!? Why me!? I haven’t even been here for two days!"

"It’s because I see…potential in you, Natsume. You have, cliché as it sounds, a protagonists face."

"That makes absolutely no sense."

"Hn, so be it." Matsuda-kun began to walk off before I interrupted.

"Wa-wait! I need you to answer something for me!"

"What is it?"

"When I was fighting one of the guys working for Urashiwa, he said something and got engulfed in flames. Reika-san, you saw it too, didn’t you!?"

"Hell yeah I did! It was like even, then the punk guy went all fiery and started beating Natsume-chan up, then she released this giant reaper thing and one in a single strike!"

Matsuda-kun didn’t look the slightest bit surprised. "Well then, I appears you witnessed a "Release" in use."

"A what?"

"Since we are, for all intents and purposes, spirits, it appears we can manifest something, our ego I speculate, into a solid form that a majority of the students use for battle. This is a game of "kill" after all."

"That _totally_ sounds like something out of a manga."

"No duh it does. Who are you complaining to? I didn’t create this dimension or anything."

"Point taken. Anyway…how do I use my Release exactly?"

"All you need to do is give it a name, then say it along with "activate". If it sounds stupid, don’t worry, you can just mutter." The way Matsuda-kun was explaining it…could that abnormal speed Urashiwa-kun demonstrated be part of his Release?

"Okay. Well then, I…can’t think of a name to save my life." I drooped my head down in defeat as Matsuda-kun glared at me with a face comparable to that of a disappointed parent.

Reika-san suddenly spoke up. "Don’t worry Natsume-chan! I can help."

Reika-san suddenly started scribbling on a piece of paper she had on her. She then handed me the paper after she was done. On it was, in messy handwriting, "00/13".

"So, this is the name for my Release you thought up of?"

"Yep!"

"Okay then…"

Unsheathing my knife, I stood calmly as I spoke.

"00/13, Activate!"

The wind around me whipped into what felt like a miniature hurricane. Before long I felt something burst out of me. As the wind cleared, I turned and saw what resembled a reaper behind me. It was about the size of my torso, was holding a scythe in its left hand and had its black hood up over its skull of a head.

"So…this is it, then?"

Reika-san began staring at 00/13 in ecstasy. "A-MAZING!! THIS THING LOOKS INCREDIBLE!!" You could practically see the hearts in her eyes.

I turned again to Matsuda-kun. "Okay then…how do I, um, disengage this thing?"

"That’s easy. You just have to use a mental command for that."

Sure enough, as soon as I thought it, 00/13 disappeared.

"So…I think I’m starting to understand things."

"Good. So you’re willing then to help us?"

I looked around a bit. Reika-san was standing around, looking as happy as ever. My classmates, they were looking at me, wanting to see what decision I made.

"…Yes."

"Very well. Natsume Kouko, welcome to this "game"."

The wind was blowing on the rooftop and the setting sun created a beautiful image on the horizon. The world I know is one where I exsist, and for that, I’ll help these people.

Let it begin my story.

This story of "kill".

**PROLOGUE COMPLETE**

**CHARACTER PROFILES:**

**Natsume Kouko**  
Birthday: January 1  
Height: 165cm  
???  
Super High School Level ???  
Family: ???  
Release: 00/13  
Likes: Steak, Knives  
Dislikes: Irritating People, Mackerel  
Description: An amnesiac student who awoke in Matsuda’s lab. She is for the most part an ordinary girl who displays downright inhuman fighting technique at times. According to Matsuda, she has the "face of a protagonist".

 **Matsuda Yasuke**  
Birthday: November 11  
Height: 182cm  
Hopes Peak Academy: 77 th Year  
Super High School Level Neurologist  
Family: None  
Likes: Manga, Otanashi Ryouko  
Dislikes: Ropes, Enoshima Junko  
Description: Natsume’s primary ally, a genius scientist with a sharp tongue who Natsume meets upon awakening. He is the one who introduces Natsume to the world she has awoken into and shares information with her. The Student Council is trying to kill him. He is clearly hiding many secrets.

 **Ushiro Reika  
** Birthday: June 10  
Height: 160cm  
Hopes Peak Academy: ???  
Super High School Level ???  
Family: ???  
Likes: Pancakes, Soda  
Dislikes: Perverts, People Who Are Too Arrogant  
Description: An oddball girl who Natsume meets and befriends. Has an ambiguous demeanour, but is otherwise friendly. Heavily insistent on being called by her first name. A proud lover of pancakes.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations on finishing the prologue! I hope you enjoy yourselves as we go through Natsume Kouko's and friends story of kill. Anyway, some notes I felt would help: 
> 
> -Yes, I am aware that Angelic Layer is the name of a CLAMP manga. I didn't know that at the time and I liked the name too much to change it. 
> 
> -Matsuda is wearing his labcoat to help distinguish him from how he was in DR0. Consider him and Reika the "co-protagonists" to Natsume, okay? 
> 
> -Murasame...is based design wise on that beta of Hinata who looks like Armin Arlet. You can probably just find the image if you look. 
> 
> -Kirara is a "cutesy" sort of name to give to a girl. Quite appropriate for the girly-girl Lolita with a rough speech pattern. 
> 
> -Tsumaki's design is inspired by Kuragaya from Little Busters! She's currently my favourite member of the Student Council. 
> 
> -I really skimmed on Yuuya's physical description. Sorry. 
> 
> -I'd be lying if I didn't say Kero and Neko were inspired by Hansel and Gretel from the Evillious Chronicles. On a side note, Kero uses "watashi" and Neko "boku". Keep that in mind. 
> 
> -Urashiwa's design is based on Asai Kazuyuki from the manga Judge. Kazu is my favourite character from that manga, and I felt his design aesthetic fit Urashiwa, so I used it. 
> 
> -00/13 is pronounced "oh-thirteen". The name is a tarot reference.
> 
> -Before anyone asks, yes, I will explain where Oogami is. Can't get everything in the first chapter, can we?


	4. Chapter 1-1: The Girl and The Knife

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd of gotten this chapter out faster, but computer troubles got in the way. Have fun.

Murasame Soushun walked into the board room and sat down at the table. Around him were Tsumaki, who was checking if her bangs were in place with a context mirror, Madarai, who was sitting upright and keenly analysing the others behaviour, Kira, who was playing a handheld videogame and Yuuya, who was nervously attempting to talk to Kira and tripping over himself.  
  
In short, a normal morning.  
  
Murasame instinctively tapped on the table. “All right, everyone, it’s time to begin our daily meeting. We have a lot to talk about this time, so who would like to go first?”  
  
Madarai was the first to speak. “I will start with this immediate fact. Natsume Kouko is alive. It appears that whatever attacked me also took off with the injured girl, allowing her to recover.”  
  
“Interesting. Madarai, do you have any idea as to who attacked you?” Murasame questioned the snake.  
  
“No, unfortunately. I blacked out before I could see their face…”  
  
 “Okay, we’ll have to look into that further. Who’s next?”  
  
“Oh, me, me!” Kira stuck her hand up in excitement.  
  
“Yes Kira-chan, what is it?” Murasame sighed.  
  
“Well, I was walking around outside when I think I saw these weirdo kids running around laughing! They had adorable animal hoods!”  
  
Tsumaki raised an eyebrow. “Kids?”  
  
Madarai glanced at Kira. “Ootsumeiko, do you need your eyes checked? I thought we established something that there are _no children_ here.”  
  
“I saw them, really! They were skipping around and being cheerful! Yuuya-kun, you agree with me, don’t you!?”  
  
Yuuya’s face turned bright red. “Su-sure, I totally do, Kira-chan!”  
  
“See? Yuuya-kun agrees, so it’s a tie! And since I’m the best here, I win by default!”  
  
Madarai rolled his eyes. He’d argue more with Kira’s behaviour but, in the years he had known her, he’s discovered that was roughly equivalent to arguing with a brick wall.  
  
“In conclu-Ho-Holic, stop licking me!” Kira was interrupted as she picked up a cat with a pink plume and set her on table. It was Holic, Kira’s pet cat and the unofficial mascot of the Student Council.   
  
“Ootsumeiko, I’ve told you to keep your pet confined to your room.” Madarai shook his head.  
  
“Oh come on, Isshiki-kun! Holic just wants to stretch her legs! I can’t help it if she wanders out!”  
  
“Have you heard of a _door lock_?”  
  
“Can you two _shut up_? And is there anything actually relevant you have to tell me about?” Murasame cut in.  
  
The one who responded to Mrasame’s question was Yuuya. “Oh, I do! Me and Madarai-kun found a body in a clearing. Looks like another Reserver bought it.”  
  
Tsumaki glanced at Yuuya. “What, is that supposed to important? I mean, those Reservers die all the time. What’s another one going to change? Well, unless it’s  
Urashiwa or any of the other members of the Shachi. _Then_ it’s actually important.”  
  
“Well, there’s two things here. One is that his body’s in pretty bad shape. Look.” Yuuya took out a photo of a Reserve Course student with his gut splayed open and passed it around.  
   
Kira eyed the photo in interest. “Huh, neato. What caused something like this?”  
  
Tsumaki picked up the photo, brushing at it with her long nails. “Well, it’s pretty obviously something a Release did. That said, I can’t think of a Release that would do something like this…”  
  
“Indeed. Of the Release’s that I and Ootsumeiko have documented, none of them that belonged to a student of the Main Course would cause such a severe wound. Indeed, it may be possible that Natsume Kouko has already awakened her Release.” Madarai answered.    
  
Murasame glanced at Madarai. “So, she’s already acquired a Release then? Interesting…Yuuya, what was the other thing you and Madarai found?”  
  
“Oh, that? Well, me and Madarai-kun found the students ID on him. And I think you need to know his name.”  
  
“Who?” Murasame asked.  
  
“Tsuyoshi Kasata.” Madarai answered.  
  
“Really? Well…” Murasame laid his grip on his katana, which he had sheathed on his hip.  
   
“…this is going be interesting….”  
  
~  
   
_What am I?”_  
  
My eyes opened to a field of white flowers. What was this? This certainly wasn’t my room, that’s for sure.  
  
_“So, this is the world you’ve become part of.”_  
   
Turning my head around, I saw a child in a white dress walking towards me. She had white hair simular to mine and was wearing a mask not unlike the ones the twins wore.  
  
“Wh-who are you?”  
  
_“Does that matter? I am what I am after all.”_  
  
“What…?”  
  
_“You_ _do not need explanation yet. I will merely give you one fact…”_  
  
The girl raised her hand and put a finger to my forehead.  
   
_"_ _I am the one born of sin, Natsume Kouko!”_  
  
I felt a bolt of exhilaration go through my mind. My eyes darted open. I was lying on my bed. So, it seems that was dream….  
  
The next thing I heard was the sound of my door swinging open with a hard thud.  
  
“It’s time to get up, Natsume-chan!”   
  
~  
  
BANG!!  
  
“Great shot, Natsume-chan!”  
   
It’s been a day since Matsuda-kun informed me the basic details of this world I’m stuck in. Because of that, I decided to start training. Can’t survive here if I can’t fight, after all. What’s more, according to Matsuda-kun, I’m now a “leader” to the others. How, I have no idea.  
  
For the purposes of training, Reika-san gathered a few used soda cans and set them up on a box so I could use them for target practice. While I was pretty confident currently with my knifeplay, I needed to practice my marksmanship if I was ever hoping to succeed.  
  
Currently, what I’m aiming for is to get three in a row without missing.  
  
BANG!!  
  
I fired at the second can. The bullet hit the tip of the can and sent it flying into the air.  
  
“Two down! You can it, Natsume-chan!”  
  
I aimed my gun at the can that was placed directly in the middle. My finger clasped around the trigger. I don’t need to hesitate. I just need…to pierce it.  
  
BANG!!  
  
For a brief instant, it looked I had missed. Then the can fell over backwards, a smoking hole in the center.  
  
“WHHO HOO!! YOU DID IT!!” Reika-san squelled and hugged me tightly.  
  
“Thanks, Reika-san…you can get off now…” I pushed Reika-san off me so she wouldn’t smother me.  
  
“Well, you two look pleased with yourselves.”  
  
Walking up to us was Matsuda-kun. He was yet again wearing his lab coat (yep, he definitely never takes that thing off) and had what appeared to be a set of documents in his hand.  
  
“Oh, so you were watching us?”  
  
“More or less. Good to see you’re training at least.”  
  
“Really? Thanks.”  
  
“Have you gained control of your Release? Don’t want you using it indoors until you know how to control it well. Don’t want us to get horribly crushed by rubble after all.”  
  
“Not really. I mean, it’s been less than a day. Anyway, why are you here?”  
  
“I know! He’s one of those perverted creeps who watches two girls so he can get off when they start doing saucy stuff together! Mom always warned about your sort!” Reika-san glared at Matsuda-kun, who didn’t respond. Presumably he didn’t feel it was warranted a response.  
  
“…The actual reason why I’m here, contrary to what your friend there thinks, is that you’re wanted at the lunchroom. Let me remind you, Natsume, you’re something of a leader to your class.”  
  
“I’m not a leader! I never agreed to that part! I mean, shouldn’t Ishimaru-kun be leader!? He’s the class representative!”  
  
“There are…reasons. Anyway, come with me. Don’t worry, you can bring your friend with you.” Matsuda-kun began walking away.    
  
“So, do we follow him, Natsume-chan?”  
  
“…Yeah, we should. Come on, let’s go…” I took after Matsuda-kun, Reika-san running behind me.  
  
~  
  
When we arrived at the lunchroom, it seemed the only ones there were my classmates. Fujisaki-san, Kuwata-kun, Oowada-kun and Ishimaru-kun were sitting at a table together and talking. Celes-san was at another table, where Yamada-kun was pouring dark tea into a cup for her. Maizono-san was sitting alone at a table in the center of the room.  
  
“Ah, you’ve arrived with those two. It’s good to be able to talk to you again, Natsume-san.” Maizono-san smiled at me.  
  
“Um…nice to talk to you too, Maizono-san.” The three of us sat down at the table where Maizono-san was sitting.  
  
The first to speak was Maizono-san. “First off, I’d like to start this conversation with an important fact. I am, for intents and purposes, Matsuda-kun’s informant.”  
  
“You’re what?”  
  
Matsuda-kun continued from what Maizono-san said. “She’s right there. I think I’ve misinforming you a bit on you being a “leader”. You are, for intents and purposes, a squad leader. I’m the one who’s been giving out missions. And Maizono here is the one who’s been directly reporting information to me.”  
  
“So, what have you been doing then?”  
  
“Well, let’s just I’ve been trying to keep the conflict between the Student Council and the Reserve Course to a minimum.”  
  
“Huh…what’s the Student Council like, actually? It’s seems like you know a lot about them. More than me, anyway…”  
  
“Ah yes…the Student Council. The Student Council were established about thirty years ago as part of some of the then ongoing plans for expansion of the school.”  
  
“Wait, they didn’t have a student council until about thirty years ago?”  
  
“What do you expect from a school that started in an abandoned medical college?”  
  
“Good point.”  
  
“Anyway, there are two ways a student can become a member. Either you get personally recommended, which basically translates to the school wanting you as a member, or you get in through an election. Either way, you’d have to have a reputation to become a member. Thus, the Student Council are considered by many in the school to be the best of the best. The _true_ Super High School Level students.”  
  
Reika-san chirped up. “Really? Coooollll….wait, what does being a member actually grant you?”  
  
“ _That_ was what I was going to explain.” Matsuda-kun took out a sheet and laid it down on the table. Looking down at it, it appeared to be map of the of entire Academy grounds. Several parts of the map were circled, seemingly in regards to their importance.  
  
Matsuda-kun continued talking. “The Student Council is stationed in a special dorm between the staff buildings and the original school building. Student Council members not only get the normal responsibilities of your average student council, but they receive special class and privileges the normal students don’t.”  
  
“So it’s that building that’s where the Student Council operates currently?”  
  
“That would correct, Natsume-san.” Maizono-san responded.  
  
“What Maizono said. The Student Council are about the size of a regular class, so it works out in the end.” Matsuda-kun continued.   
  
“Wait, a regular class? But there were only five who confronted me…”  
  
 “Ah yes. Of the fourteen members who entered this world, four have left, while five have been killed in action.”  
  
I drooped my head Matsuda-kun as said “killed”. While I was well aware of the scenario, the thought of me or Reika-san dying…wasn’t one I wanted to consider.  
  
“So…what’s the Reserve Course like?” I asked, attempting to change the topic.  
  
“The Reserve Course? The Reserve Course students by and large operate out of their school district. While it’s smaller then the other districts in raw size, it actually has an elaborate underground network built underneath the main building, so there’s plenty of room.”  
  
“Wait…why is there an underground complex underneath the Reserve Course?”  
  
“It’s…a long story…” I rolled my eyes as Matsuda-kun spoke. If Matsuda-kun said “long story”, it probably meant he wasn’t giving me answers.   
  
“Okay then. So Urashiwa Kaoru…”  
  
“Urashiwa Kaoru is what many of the Reserve Course would see as a “leader”. Of course, with 2000 something odd students running around, it’s not exactly a unified group, but Urashiwa operates out of the main school building and his force is the largest collective group in the school.”  
  
“And the group that forms the circle of Urashiwa Kaoru’s command is called the “Shachi”, isn’t it? I think I heard that somewhere…” Reika-san asked.  
  
“You’d be correct there, Reika-san.” Maizono-san answered.  
  
“Woo-hoo!” Reika-san cheerfully exclaimed, muffled through a pancake she had in her mouth.  
  
“Indeed. The Shachi…consist of seven members, Urashiwa Kaoru and six others. Their names aren’t known, but they’re a dangerous group capable of taking on a member of the Council and winning.”  
  
“Matsuda-kun, I need to ask you something. On my first night here, I was attacked by Jakkun.”  
  
“Jakkun?”  
  
“The snake! That big guy in the Student Council!”  
  
“Ah, so Madarai.”  
  
“Whatever. Anyway, Jakkun attacked me at night and severely injured me to the point that I blacked out. However, when I woke up, my injuries were completely  
gone. How do you explain that?”  
  
“Ah yes, that’s something I probably should tell you about. In this world, the afterlife, your body regenerates at an accelerated rate. Granted, you aren’t _invulnerable_ , you’ll still die if you suffer a severe enough wound, but, if you’re stabbed once and left to die, I can ensure you that you’ll live.”  
   
“Okay…what’s your relationship with Murasame Soushun?”  
  
“Murasame Soushun…not only is he the Student Council President, but he’s also seen the pinnacle of a man. The degree of loyalty that his allies show him is the sort I would never get.”  
  
Maizono-san looked confused. “Huh? What are you talking about?”   
  
Matsuda-kun suddenly looked concerned. “Let’s just say that I…made some mistakes in the past. It’s not really surprising that not many people trust me. Hell, can you really say _you_ trust me?”  
  
“No, not really…”  
  
“So, do I make myself clear?” Matsuda-kun gave me a slight glance. Clearly, there was something in his past he didn’t want to talk about.  
  
“Hey, uh, can I get some more food? We’ve kinda run out…” Reika-san chirped up.  
  
“But you just finished eating pancakes….”  
  
“The fact that I just finished doesn’t matter to a pancake lover! I still hunger!”  
  
“…Okay….”  
  
“Oh yeah!” Reika-san got up and began skipping over to get some more food. So far, everything was looking relatively normal-  
  
“A MASK GOT IN!!”  
  
My thoughts were interrupted as another student suddenly burst into the room screaming. Reika-san suddenly froze as it felt like, for a momentary second, time itself stopped.  
  
“Impossible…Natsume, follow me!” Matsuda-kun suddenly stood up and ran out of the lunchroom.  
  
“Ma-Maizono-san! What’s happening here!?”  
  
“I’ll explain it later! Follow me!” Maizono-san suddenly got up herself and started running after Matsuda-kun.  
  
I didn’t have to think anymore. I got up instantly, tightened my belt and ran after the two.  
  
~  
  
By the time I had caught up with Maizono-san and Matsuda-kun, the two of them were already facing a hallway. Once I caught up, I turned and, down the hallway, I was able to see what had broken in.  
  
What was standing there was a student who was bashing on a door with a crowbar. The uniform he was wearing was a complete mess, with his blazer suffering from a multitude of a cuts and tears and his tie barely done up. He sounded like he was gargling acid, with a slurred groan akin to someone partially in pain. But most distinctive thing was the mask he was wearing. Split down the middle vertically, it was white on the right and black on the left. The white side had a normal black eye and smile on it, while the black side had what resembled a red lightning bolt for an eye with a toothy grin. Spread out in the middle was snout, with ears at the top, giving it the appearance of a cartoon bear.  
  
It was, unmistakably, the same design of the masks those twins wore.  
  
“What….is that?”  
  
Matsuda-kun glared at the…student in front of us. “That thing…is what we’ve taken to calling the “Masks”.”  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“When the students of the Reserve Course came into this world, a great deal of them were wearing these masks. Those masks…they close the students off from their common senses. Thoughts, memories, love, all sealed away. The only thing still left to drive them to act is an instinctual hatred towards the school itself. They’re like a pack of animals.”  
  
“That’s…horrific…”  
  
Suddenly, the banging stopped as the Mask turned to look us. Within seconds, an ear piercing scream was heard, causing me to wince.  
  
“NATSUME, GET OUT OF THE WAY!!”  
  
Matsuda-kun’s voice brought me back to my senses as I suddenly saw the Mask dashing forwards while preparing to bring his crowbar down on my skull. Quickly ducking out of the way, I saw the Mask slam his crowbar into the floor. Within seconds, I instinctively unsheathed my knife.  
  
The Mask turned to me and lunged at me again. Quickly shifting my feet, I sidestepped his attack and, brandishing my knife, I sliced down on his shoulder. Almost instantaneously, the knife cut down into his right shoulder, the Mask screeching as I felt my senses heightened by the smell of fresh blood.  
  
Within seconds, the Mask, clutching his injured shoulder, jumped back several steps. I didn’t even hesitate as I sheathed my knife and instead took my gun out and fired a single round. The round grazed his hip, creating an impact that caused his crowbar to be flung out of his hand.  
  
The Mask stood for a bit, almost as if he couldn’t quite comprehend what had happened. Then, he suddenly lunged forwards. It wasn’t even a few seconds before I then felt pressure on my neck. The Mask…was trying to strangle me.  
  
_“I…”_  
  
I didn’t have to think anymore. In single motion, I leaned right, putting strain on his injured shoulder. Eventually, I felt one of his hands grip being loosened. Putting all my strength in, I trusted the Mask into the wall.  
  
_“…just have to pierce you!”_  
  
I one swift motion, I unsheathed my knife and slashed a deep, diagonal strike into the Masks cheast. Piece of flesh, blood and shirt went flying everywhere as the Mask was slammed into the wall. The Mask stood there, shuddering, until a crack formed on his mask. After a brief pause, his mask shattered, revealing a boy with brown hair and tired eyes.  
  
“…Thank…you….”  
  
The boy shuddered a bit more, before collapsing on the ground, blood running out his mouth. He was most certainly dead. I just stood there, breathing heavily.  
  
The next thing I heard was slow clapping. Turning, I saw Matsuda-kun was approaching me.  
  
“Congratulations, Natsume. You’ve successfully killed a Mask. Not that’s much of an achievement. Really, those guys are only dangerous in packs.”  
  
“Um…thanks…?”     
  
“You know it’s funny. In the beginning, everyone had these kind of masks…”  
  
“What?”  
  
Matsuda-kun kneeled down, placing his hand on the Masks head as he continued to talk.  
  
“Well, I said the beginning. These masks were something that all the students here awakened with. However, for the students of the main course, they shattered almost immediately, restoring their original personalities. It seems that merely didn’t happen for much of the Reserve Course…”  
  
“Huh…what are those masks then?”  
  
“It’s hard to say, but my guess is that these masks…are formed from the students despair. They close off the higher functions of the student’s minds and, when they break, they take those memories with them.”  
  
“Really? That’s…an interesting theory.”  
  
“You know, one of the key differences between the Masks and the normal students is that the normal students can manifest a Release. If so, is it perhaps possible that the students despair and their Releases are the same thing?”  
  
“I…can’t say, can I?”  
  
Matsuda-kun started getting up from the ground. “Of course you couldn’t. That said, a friend of mine, he would’ve said Releases were made of hope. I wonder, are hope and despair the same thing? I really can’t decide…”  
  
Before I could respond, Matsuda-kun suddenly began walking past me and vanished into the hallway.  
  
“So, that was something, wasn’t it, Natsume-san?” Maizono-san suddenly walked up to me.  
  
“Yeah, I guess so. Hey, what’s going to happen to the body?”  
  
“The body? Oh, the bodies in this world tend to disappear after a while. The blood remains, though for some reason it tends to get cleaned up…”  
  
“Huh, okay then. Hey, Maizono-san, what do you think of Matsuda-kun?”  
  
“Matsuda-kun? Not much.”  
  
“Really? I thought you were his “informant” and all…”  
  
“Oh, that? He just felt like making me his informant for whatever reason. I didn’t know him personally.”  
  
“Well, what do you know about him?”  
  
“From when I was alive. Well, he was in a class in the year above me, so I didn’t know much about him. All I knew was that he was a genius neurologist with close connections to the school, and that he was dating one of my classmates. That said, I’m certain he’s a good person…”  
  
“Why? All I’ve seen from him is “cold asshole” and “snarky asshole”. Not exactly someone I’d sympathise with…”  
  
“Well, when I was walking down to the nurse’s office, I saw Matsuda-kun confronting a gang of girls. It seems they were a bullying another girl and Matsuda-kun was actually standing up for her. After they left, he even helped her up and asked her if things were okay. It’s because of that…that I think Matsuda-kun is a good person…”  
  
“A good person, huh. I wonder if that’s true….”  
  
~  
  
The rest of the day went pretty normally. Ishimaru-kun questioned me and Maizono-san over what had happened and, after learning that no one had been seriously hurt, told me to get cleaned up and return to training. The rest of the day was fairly normal. Kuwata-kun asked if I wanted to play baseball with him (I declined), Fujisaki-san requested I gave her the spelling of my name and Celes-san…I attempted to talk to her, and she just gave me a cold glare. How friendly.  
  
By now, it was evening and was sitting by myself outside, eating some steak as an afternoon snack. Reika-san had run off to explore the school some more, so I was by myself. The evening sky was a pleasant amber.  
  
Overall, it was a nice enough atmosphere that I was starting to forget that I was in a death game. It actually isn’t bad-  
  
“Hey, Onee-chan! How’re ye doing?”  
  
My pleasant thoughts were interrupted as Neko leapt out of the bushes with a cheerful look on her face.  
  
“Um, hi. Do you just like hiding in bushes to surprise people?”  
  
“How rude! Sis just wants to greet you, Onee-chan!” Kero suddenly appeared, leaping out of a tree behind and landed on his feet besides his sister.  
  
“Am I  the only thing you two are interested in?”  
  
“Maybe!”  
  
“We don’t know!”  
  
“Okay then…that guy, the one with a hood, what’s your relationship with him?”  
  
“Ah, him?” Neko responded. She seems to be the one who lead most of the time.  
  
“He’s a kind and honest onii-chan who gives me and sis candy as a thank you gift!”  
  
“Well, yeah. He’s also gives my idiot brother the _other_ sort of things he desires.”  
  
“Sis!” Kero responded, offended. Well, at least they weren’t _completely_ linked in mind.  
  
“What? Seriously, onee-chan, you shouldn’t trust that sleazy lolicon. He’s bad news that exploits young and fragile girls in their sleep!”  
  
“Then why do you trust him…?”  
  
“Easy answer. I don’t!”  
  
“Okay…what’s your names then?”  
  
“We told you them already! I’m Neko!”  
  
“And I’m Kero!”  
  
“No, I mean your real names. Those names of yours, they’re pretty obviously not your real names. Likewise, what’s your family name?”  
  
“Doesn’t matter.”  
  
“Yes it does!”  
  
“Really? Because we have a name you can call us, so it doesn’t matter that you don’t know what we’re _really_ called. I mean, how sure can you be with your name?”  
  
“Um…I’m pretty sure I know my name…”  
  
“Eh, whatever floats your boat.”  
  
“Okay then…what was your life like before you died?”  
  
“Hm, swimming around in our mother’s womb was pretty fun!” Kero responded.  
  
“Your hobbies?”  
  
“Illicit things for me, perverse things for my brother.” Neko responded.  
  
“Sis!”  
  
“…Your favourite food?”  
  
“Candy, candy and more candy!” Kero responded. I was getting nowhere fast.  
  
“Okay, before I leave, I want to ask you two something. What do you know about the Masks?”  
  
“The Masks? Ah, so I guess you saw the one we helped get in.” The minute Neko responded, I felt a chill go down my spine.  
  
“You did…what?”  
  
“Yeah, Onii-chan wanted to introduce you to those guys, so we helped him get one in so you could see it!”  
  
“You…do you know what those things are?”  
  
“Sure we did!”  
  
“Well, those masks you’re wearing, they’re pretty clearly the same sort of masks those other students are wearing. What’s the connection?”  
  
Neko suddenly put her point finger to her lips. “Well, let’s just it’s-“  
  
Kero put his pointer to his, the same as his sister. “A secret!”  
  
“We don’t like telling you important things like that!”  
  
“We wish to keep those little important things a secret!”  
  
“For that, Onee-chan, we bid you goodbye! Take this note as a gift of our generosity!”  
  
Before I could respond, the twins suddenly took running away at an abnormal speed and quickly vanished into the forest. Those two, they seem to have the ability to appear and disappear at will-  
  
My thoughts were interrupted as I spotted a slip of paper on the ground. Presumably, this is the note Neko left for me. Picking it up, it showed a cartoon bear, a complete version of the design on those masks. Along with it were it were two names.  
  
“Monokuma” and “Enoshima Junko”…  
  
~  
  
Deep within the forest, a girl was scrambling away from a beast.  
  
“N-NO!! STOP IT!! STOP IT!!!”  
  
The girls screaming was cut off as her head was sent flying off her neck. Her corpse shuddered a bit before collapsing, splaying alongside the likewise headless corpse of her friend.  
  
Turning away, the beast cracked his knuckles. These girls, they were just like so many of the others.  
  
Weak.  
  
He wanted something that satisfied him. Something that would allow him to prove the strength he had built up in his world.  
  
Soon, he would get his revenge.  
  
**CHARACTER PROFILES**  
  
**Maizono Sayaka**  
Birthday: July 7  
Height: 165cm  
Hopes Peak Academy: 78th Year  
Super High School Level Idol  
Family: Father  
Likes: Dreams, Birds  
Dislikes: Loneliness, Gyoza  
Description: The star member of Japan’s most beloved idol group, with 100 million fans worldwide. A kind, goodhearted young girl who developed her talent out of loneliness. Of course, there might be another side to her…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention I like writing the Twins? Because I love the Twins.


	5. Chapter 1-2: Sensei and I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this took much, much longer than I wanted. Blame real life matter and rampunt computer problems deleting my work. Enjoy.

"Is this world a dream?"

The first thing I awakened to was cool air. My head felt light. Not surprising, I went to bed early since I was feeling woozy. That said, things looked normal. Hopefully-

"My, this is interesting, isn’t it, Natsume-san?"

"DUAGH!! Wha-what are you doing in my room!?"

Standing in the middle of the room was that masked guy working with the twins were working with. He was once again wearing his hood and mask combination though, now that he was up close, I was now able to notice that he had white hair poking out of his brow.

"Well, that’s a pretty obvious answer. I walked in. You know, through the door."

"But my door…."

"Oh yeah! Sorry, but it looks like the lock on your door is broken. Guess that means anyone can enter."

"…Okay…why are you here there?"

"Well…I just felt like talking to you."

"Guah, the twins were right! You are going to do weird things to me!"

"Oh, so Neko-san started spreading rumours about me again, didn’t she? Don’t worry, I can assure you I am _not_ a lolicon. Trust me, I’m an honest guy!"

"Really? Well, explain then why you let that Mask in."

"Oh, that? I wanted to test you, Natsume-san."

"…"Test me"?"

"In short, I see a sort of…potential in you, Natsume-san, one separate from the other students. If the hope inside of you is to be born, it needs the nutrients so to grow. For that…you have to know more about this world. If you were able to fight and kill, you’re able to continue forward."

"You…what’s your intentions with all this?"

"Oh, me? I just want to make hope shine…"

"What’s your name?"

"I told you, I’m not using a name right now. But, if I needed a name, call me…"K"."

"Um, okay…"

K turned and began staring at the wall. No surprise, I had pasted that piece of paper the twins had given me on the wall for easy reference.

"This note, Neko-san and Kero-kun gave it to you, didn’t they?"

"You’d be right there. Since those kids have the same sort of mask that the Masks wear, I thought it be smart to keep it. Come to think of it, the mask your wearing is pretty simular to the kids…"

"Really? Ah, this is just a cosmetic thing. Our masks were crafted by the same person after all. Let’s just say we have….reasons, for wearing masks. We’re aren’t taking it off, okay?"

"Well, can you leave then? I don’t feel comfortable about talking to someone in my room…."

"Really? Well, I guess it can’t be helped. Go on, Natsume-san, continue your struggle in this world of the dead where the gift of survival is the gift of a return to the world where you are alive."

"What about you then? Don’t _you_ want to return to being alive?"

"Eh, not really. Just to let you in on a secret, _I’m more alive than anyone here…._ "

K, laughing under his breath, vanished from my room, leaving me to contemplate his words.

~

"Good to see you, Natsume-chan!"

The first thing I heard upon reaching the main school building was Reika-san cheerfully calling out to me as she waved in excitement. Because I was stuck in the boys dorms (the consequence of me getting Matsuda-kun’s old room), me and Reika-san had agreed to me up at the school entrance and eat breakfast together.

"Yeah, it’s good to see-Reika-san, wait up!"

The minute I called out, Reika-san took off running.

"Catch me if you can! Natsume-chan!"

"Well, if I win, I get all the pancakes!"

"Natsume-chan, you’re evil!"

"Not as evil as you are!"

The two of us continued to have a friendly squabble as I chased Reika-san to where the others where the others were eating.

"You can’t catch me, for I am a warrior of true justice, Natsume-chan!"

"You’re not escaping my grip Rei-"

Just as I was about to catch Reika-san, my feet slipped and I fell onto her. Regaining my senses, I realised that my face was buried in her breasts.

"Um, that’s an interesting position you’ve got there…"

"Natsume-kun! Illicit sexual relationships are forbidden in public!"

This…is awkward…

"Natsume-chan…you’re squishing me…"

"Uhh…" Before I could respond, I heard Matsuda-kun and Maizono-san walking in talking. Matsuda-kun didn’t sound happy.

"Goddamit, what do you mean he’s moving!?"

"I heard it from my sources. Apparently, three Reservers are already dead…"

"Why now of all times…" Matsuda-kun stopped cold in his tracks as he saw the two of us. "What…are you doing?"

"Natsume-san! That’s an…interesting position you’re in…"

"This…isn’t what you think it is."

"I knew it! You _are_ the sort of pervert who gets off on two girls doing naughty thing to each other!" Reika-san snarled at Matsuda-kun.

" _No, I’m not._ Can you please shut up about that? Anyway, Natsume, you can get off. Can’t exactly do any missions if you’re lying on the ground like a drunk, can you?"

"Okay…" Per Matsuda-kun’s words, I rolled off Reika-san and lied on the ground. My nostrils wavered with the fresh scent of Reika-san’s breasts.

"Well, this is a way to start the day…" Matsuda-kun leaned back on the table.

"Matsuda-kun, sitting on school property is strictly prohibited!" Ishimaru-kun suddenly got up and starting pointing at Matsuda-kun.

"Relax, it’s not like we’re actually at _school_ or anything…"

"Ah, yes. My apologies!" Ishimaru-kun bowed and then sat down again.

"Eh, it doesn’t mean much. At least you aren’t like your idiot musclehead of friend…"

"WHAT’RE YOU SAYING ASSHOLE!!?"

"Kyoudai, stop what you’re doing before someone gets hurt!"

"Oowada-kun, calm down!"

The minute I heard the table slam and Oowada-kun screaming, I knew I was in for a long day.

~

So, after Oowada-kun’s little "outburst", Celes-san’s teacup got broken. In order to avoid grievous amounts of bodily harm caused by Celes-san’s rage, Matsuda-kun sent me to retrieve a spare tea kit from the room the tea ceremony club used. Unfortunately, it just so happens that whoever designed this building was desperate to create a maze to trap the students, since I’ve already gotten lost in this place. Okay, that might have had something to do with me not asking Matsuda-kun for directions, but still!

In short, this was not looking to be a good day.

"Hey, anyone here!? I’m kinda lost here!" I shouted into the hallway.

No response.

Great, I’m screwed.

WHHAM!! WHAM!!

Huh?

"Was that someone there? Can you help me?"

"Who’s there?"

"Me!" The voice, an adult woman’s, was emitting from a classroom. "The door is jammed and I can’t get out. Can you help me?"

"Really? Okay…." Walking up to the door, I took my gun out from its holster and aimed it up close at door handle. Pulling the trigger, I heard a loud bang, followed by a click. After the briefest of pauses, the door opened and someone fell out onto the floor.

Looking down to the ground, I saw that the person who had fallen was an adult woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. She had dark red hair and was wearing a labcoat along with a professional looking skirt. Her blue eyes were covered by sharp rimmed glasses.

"Um…hi. Who are you?"

"Me? I’m Maika, a teacher at this school." The woman answered. "What’s yours?"

"Natsume. Natsume Kouko."

"Natsume? That’s a nice name…" Maika-sensei smiled at me.

"Thanks…"

"Hey, Natsume?"

"Yeah?"

"Um…I think you should meet someone. Follow me." Maika-sensei made a concerned momentarily before she took off walking.

"Maika-sensei, wait up!" Before I could even think about what had happened, I took off running after Maika-sensei.

~

By the time I had caught up with Maika-sensei, she was standing in front of another classroom. The stillness in the air was keeping me acute.

"…He’s here."

"Huh?"

"You’ll understand when you meet him. Just be weary, he’s an…unusual type." After a momentary pause, Maika-sensei opened the door to a classroom where a man was sitting on a table, reading a book he had in his right hand.

"I always called him Sensei, and so I shall do in these pages, rather than reveal his name. It is not that I wish to shield him from public scrutiny-simply that it feels more natural. "Sensei" springs to my lips whenever I summon memories of this man, and I write of him now with the same reverence and respect. It would also feel wrong to use some conventional initial to substitute for his name and thereby distance him-ah, Maika, you’ve returned. Cheers!"

"Yeah, I have. And, as you can see, I’ve brought someone with me…" Maika-sensei said to man.

"Oh? Why, how interesting. I guess, in that case I should introduce myself." The man shut the book he was holding and turned to us. "Greetings, the name of which I am reffered to here is Shirogane Ranpo. I am a teacher of literary knowledge at this academy."

Watching Shirogane-sensei get off the table he was perched on, I saw he was a man with dark hair and glasses wearing a vest who appeared to be a few years older than Maika-sensei. His face bore the image of an intellect, someone who had years of experience behind him.

"Um…good to meet you. I’m Natsume. Natsume Kouko." I said, bowing.

"Natsume Kouko? Why, that’s a fine name. Through it, you have encapsulated the spirit of a great man and his legacy."

"My name isn’t written that way…" I responded, eyeing the Shirogane-sensei had in his hand.

"Oh really? How is spelt then?"

Putting my hand in my blazer, I took out my nametag and handed it to Shirogane-sensei. "My, what an unusual spelling you have. I presume you must unusual origin."

"I guess you could say that…" For now, I wasn’t going to tell the teachers about my amnesia. Best not mention it unless I have to.

"Hey, Natsume-san, what are your friends like?" Maika-sensei asked.

"My friends? My friends-OH SHIT!!" All this had made me forget about the tea set! Matsuda-kun was going to kill me!

Rushing out of the classroom, I didn’t get farther than a single step before I turned and saw Matsuda-kun and Reika-san standing in the hallway. Neither of them looked happy.

"Um…hi…"

"Where were you, Natsume-chan!? We were looking everywhere for you!" Reika-san shouted at me.

"I, uh, got lost…"

"Well, you have a terrible sense of direction then. Maybe you should have me check your brain for deffiencies?" Matsuda-kun sneered.

"Hey…Matsuda-kun, why is Reika-san with you?"

"Oh, her? She insisted she come along."

"Friends stick to each other, Natsume-chan! You can’t just abandon me without a notice!" Reika-san looked like she was glaring right through me. This was unfortunate…

"Why, Natsume, cheers! I presume those two are your cohorts?" Turning around, I saw Shirogane-sensei and Maika-sensei exciting the classroom. Shirogane-sensei was chuckling under his breath.

"It’s nice to meet your friends as well, Natsume-san." Maika-sensei smiled.

"Greetings, I am Ushiro Reika, Natsume-chan’s best and dearest friend! You may call me Reika however, Ushiro is unacceptable!"

"Reika? How nice. That said, Matsuda, you aren’t being the most talkative type, are you? It’s a pity, I’ve heard you’re quite recognized among the higher-ups at this academy." Shirogane-sensei smiled at Matsuda-kun.

"…Shut up."

"Now now, don’t talk to your elders like that." Shirogane-sensei was clearly toying with Matsuda-kun.

"Well, this is getting awkward. Hey, Reika-san how about we-"

"Gihihihihi…" My words stopped instantaneously as I heard laughter echoing down the hallway. That laughter…

"Huh? What the hell was that?" Reika-san squeaked.

"Those kids…what do they want…" Without another word, I took off running towards the direction of that laughter.

~

Running down the hallway, I took several turns and went down the stairs, eventually finding myself in a large room that was mostly vacant. Everything seemed normal…

"Natsume-chan! Wait up!" Reika-san ran into the room, panting. Close behind her was Matsuda-kun.

"What Ushi-"

"REIKA!!"

"Right, what Reika said. Seriously, if you keep running off like that, I’m going to have to go to work _on your brain…"_

"Was that a threat I just heard?"

"Well, you can take it that way…"

"Hah! Such blunt cruelty!’ That’s the Yasuke-kun I know and adore!" Turning around, I saw Neko drop down from ceiling, grinning like a maniac.

"Gihihihihihi! Onee-chan, it’s good to see you again!" From the opposite side of the room, Kero also dropped down to the ground.

"Dugh!!" Reika-san squealed. "Creepy twin things!"

"Hey! That’s rude!" Kero snapped. "I can assure you, we are most definitely human!"

"Shit, it’s _you two._ "

"Wait, Matsuda-kun, you know these two?"

"Yeah, I do. They’re a pair of annoying brats who do nothing but irritate me."

"How rude, Yasuke-kun! You know I’m your lover!" Neko squealed.

"For the last time, _I’m not._ "

"Oh, so you’re one of _those_ boys? Well, you can just take my idiot pervert of a brother instead!"

"SIS!!"

"No, I’m not interested in small children. Can you now gladly shut up?"

"You’re so cruel!"

"Um…so, what are you twos interests?" I asked, attempting to change the topic at hand.

"Handsome boys with sullen personalities." Neko exclaimed.

"Beautiful girls with voluptuous chests!" Kero followed up.

"Wait, what?"

"Sure, I _love_ fine chests." While I couldn’t see his eyes, it seemed Kero was rolling his eyes. "That said, you don’t have to worry, Onee-chan. I mean, you don’t have a pair anyway!"

"Wait, wha-" My voice trailed off as began thinking. Kero is right, practically every other female I’ve met here, from Reika-san to Maika-sensei, has bigger breasts than me. It makes feel…kinda inadequate. Big boobs, big boobs…

"Hey, Natsume-chan? Your face is all red and you’ve been breathing kinda funny. Is something wrong?"

Reika-san’s words made me snap back to my senses in an instant. What the hell was I doing!? I was thinking like some pervert! This-this-this…

"Hah, I guess Onee-chan has a perverted side like bro, am I right?" Neko chuckled.

"Shu-shut up!"

"Eh, whatever. That said, I think it be best for us to leave now, you know?" Neko responded with a smirk.

"Yeah! Bye, Onee-chan!" Kero cheerfully finished up his sisters sentence before the two of them ran out the room, laughing all the while.

"Well, they’re gone. Thank god for that…" Matsuda-kun rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Matsuda-kun, so, those twins, do you know anything about them?"

"Not really. They just popped up out of nowhere one day and started pestering me. Really wish they’d stop…"

"Huh, guess you’re like me then…"

"Guess so. Hey, Natsume?"

"Yeah?"

"Meet me outside. I think your mission is ready to start…" Matsuda-kun turned and walked out of the room.

After a brief silence I finally spoke up. "Hey, Reika-san?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you, like, think there’s someone here who’s been moving everything into position?"

"So a mastermind then? Not really. I mean, you’d have to be pretty stupid to get involved in a death game you made yourself."

"I guess so…"

~

After a little while had passed before I went downstairs. Walking into the lobby, I was surprised to see Shirogane-sensei, leaning against the wall with another book in his hand, along with Maika-sensei, who was standing next to the exit with her arms crossed.

"It’s good to see you, Natsume." Shirogane-sensei said, not taking his eyes off the book he was reading.

"Oh, Shirogane-sensei, Maika-sensei! It’s good to see you two…"

"Hi, Natsume. Ranpo and I heard you were going on a mission, so we thought we’d meet you and send you off." Maika-sensei smiled at me.

"Um, thanks." I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment.

"Well, Natsume, it is true that we came to see you off. But was also another thing…"

"My oh my, are you lot having fun…"

Turning around, I saw an old man come into the lobby. Dressed in a deep black suit, his shrivelled body was slumped, practically sinking into his wheelchair. Despite his obvious age, he still retained hair, and he wore dark glasses that covered his eyes.

"Who-who the hell are you?"

" _That,_ Natsume, is the good Reishigami Tsukishima, head of the Reishigami family, member of the Steering Committee and one of the most important people in the history of Hopes Peak Academy."

"Now now, Ranpo, you don’t have to overstate my status. For now, I’m just a plain old man." After talking to Shriogane-sensei, Reishigami-san turned to look at me. "Now, dear, could please tell your name?"

"It’s good to meet you, Reishigami-san." I said as I bowed politely. "My name is Natsume Kouko."

"Natsume? Why that’s a fine name. Reminds me of a classmate I once had. Of course, she’s gone now. When you get to my age, most of what you know has already disappeared." Reishigami-san chuckled, exposing the rotten remains of his teeth.

"So you’re a member of the Steering Committee huh…where are the other members then?"

"Simple answer there! They all died! Everyone last one them! I’m the only last one left!"

Reishigami-san’s words made me momentarily freeze. "So, you’re not interested in coming back to life then?"

"Why would I!? I’m an old man whose legs have given out and who can barely even see a thing anymore! Of course I don’t give a shit about returning to life!" Reshigami-san’s face suddenly demonic as he began shouting.

"You know, Natsume, there’s moe to it than that." Shirogane-san took his eyes out of his book to glace at me. "The teachers at this that we call the "Academy of Hope" have almost all been hunted down. Frankly, it appears we are the only remaining…"

"Wha-what…?"

"What, does it surprise you? The students of the Reservations Course already despise those who stand above them. What do you _think_ they would have to say about the teachers who put them in that position?" A small smile formed on Shirogane-sensei’s lips. "That said, you best be off, Natsume. Cheers!"

"O…kay…" Shirogane-sensei’s words frightened me, but I wasn’t going to contemplate them for now. I have other things to do after all.

"Wait, Natsume, one more thing." Maika-sensei suddenly spoke up.

"What is it?"

"I just want to give you something." Maika-sensei approached me and, sticking her hand into her pocket, pulled out a blue hairclip with a star on it and handed it to me.

"What is this?"

"It’s…something for good luck."

"Tha-thanks." I hastily put the hairclip in my blazer pocket. While I didn’t want to reject Maika-sensei’s gift, I wasn’t going to wear it just because she wanted me to.

Surveying the room and the people I had met today, I took off running without looking back.

~

Shirogane Ranpo looked at the book in his hand. He wasn’t reading it. He, after all, had already read the entire contents of the book several times over. However, it was a book many had read, and he never wanted to be seen without a book in his hand.

"So, do you think what we did was right?" Maika asked Shirogane with a concerned face.

"Oh, you did great. That trick with the door worked like a cinch! That girl didn’t suspect a thing!"

"It’s not that. It’s just…we’re manipulating her…"

"Hey, it isn’t really "manipulation". We just have to…observe her."

"If you say so…"

"My, Ranpo, you’re a sly one, aren’t you?" Reishigami chuckled.

"Well, as a great writer once said, "This I want to believe implicitly: Man was born for love and revolution.""

"Well, now _you’re_ starting to sound like the elder here."

"Shut up, old man. What I’m merely doing is plotting my next move. That girl, she has a potential unlike any other."

Shirogane leaned back, his glasses reflecting the dim ceiling lights.

"Natsume Kouko, may you run ever forward, into this eternal tragedy of love and despair…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cultural Notes (Get used to these):   
> -There's a lot of references to Kokoro, the best selling novel in all of Japan. The title is a reference to the novels first portion, K's name is a reference to a character and Shirogane's reading the opening paragraph when we meet him.   
> -Shirogane's first name, Ranpo, is a reference to detective writer Edogawa Ranpo.   
> -The stuff with Natsume's name is that she shares a surname with Kokoro writer Natsume Souseki. This was a complete coincidence BTW.   
> -Reishigami's design is more or less lifted from one of the Steering Committee members shown in DR0. Look the image up, you'll probably figure out who it is.   
> -Shirogane near the end is quoting famous novel The Setting Sun, by Dazai Ousamu.


	6. Chapter 1-3: A Rabbits Foot In Demons World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate my computer.

Rushing outside, I saw Matsuda-kun was standing around, looking as serious as he always was. Really, in the four days I’ve known him, I haven’t seen him smile once.

"Could you be any slower?" He sneered.

"He-hey! I was held up…"

"Whatever. Follow me." Matsuda-kun began walking off.

"H-hey, wait!" I began running after Matsuda-kun as he walked down the path. "Can you actually explain what the "mission" I’m supposed to be part of!?"

"Right, I should explain that. What you’re going on is, for all intents and purposes, a retrieval mission."

"A retrieval mission?"

"Yeah, a retrieval mission. On the outskirts of the Reserve Course’s grounds, there’s a building containing several official documents from various teachers at the school. For the majority of the time this "game" has been going on, it’s been occupied by a Reserver named Warejima Budou and his gang. However, a week ago, Warejima decided to go and attack the Student Council. You can probably guess how well _that_ went…."

"So the building…?"

"Per my sources, the Shachi haven’t gone and tried to retrieve the place. There’s some files I want stored there, so I’m sending you and two others to retrieve them."

"I can’t believe I’m a glorified carrier pigeon for you…"

"What, do you want to be my dog then?"

"Well, excuse me, _your royal highness._ Do you want me to now bow before and lick your feet?"

"What did you say-"

"Well, are _you two_ bickering…" Matsuda-kun was cut off by a third voice.

"Wha-what the hell was that!?"

"Me!" Turning around, I saw a boy jump down from the branches. He was wearing the boys uniform but, in place of the standard issue blazer, he was wearing a brown coat, along with a hat that came together to make him resemble a detective from some old novel.

"Still joking around, aren’t you?" Matsuda-kun sneered.

"Now now, Matsuda, no need to be abrasive." From the looks of it, this guy was one of the people who was going with me. "Anyway, I presume you’re "Shimiko"? Good to meet you."

"…Shimiko?" Had my reputation _really_ progressed to this?

"Well, of course. Sure, _I know_ your names Natsume, thanks for that Matsuda, but since you went and killed Tsuyoshi Kasata with that funky reaper Release, you’ve gained a reputation, ya know? I mean, sure, Tsuyoshi wasn’t a Shachi or anything, but still pretty good for a newcomer."

"Keishima, cut it out and introduce yourself." Matsuda-kun interrupted.

"Oh, yeah I should." The boy responded, rubbing the back of his head. "Keishima Harune. Super High School Level Detective of the 76th Year. Good to meet you." 

"Um…hi, Keishima-kun. You’re a detective? That’s…pretty neat."

"Really? Eh, I’m not really _that_ great. I mean, there’s plenty of detectives before and after me who are better. That said, I guess you could say I’m still a prodigy, if you really want to."

"I guess…."

"He-hey…" My thoughts were cut off by a quiet squeaking not unlike that of a mouse emitting from the bushes. Turning, I saw a girl with the physic of a Junior High student emerge. She had glasses and blond hair done up in two pigtails.

"Who are you?"

"I’m…Yotsuguri Yomika." The girl chirped out. "Ni-nice to meet you…"

"Yomika’s the other person going with you." Matsuda-kun said. "She’s a Reserver but don’t worry, I can ensure she’s on our side."

"Wait, really? Huh…"

"I’m…really thankful to me you, Natsume-san! You-you can call me Yomika…" Yomika bowed.

"She’s a shy one, isn’t she?" Keishima-kun chuckled.

"You’d be surprised about her. Believe me, she _volunteered_ to do this mission." Matsuda-kun said.

"Hah, perfect! Have to say, Yomika, I hope you impress me…"

"Eugh!?" Yomika’s face turned bright red. "O-o-okay…"

"That’s the spirit! Shimiko, Yomika, follow me!" Keishima-kun laughed as he began to walk.

"Umm…okay, Keishima-san!" Yomika smiled before happily trotting along behind Keishima-kun. Shaking my head, I sighed and ran after the two.

~

"Are we there yet?" I moaned.

"For the last time, nope. Pretty sure we’re close though." Keishima-kun chuckled. I rolled my eyes. We’d been walking for what felt like a small eternity, though I was pretty sure it was just an hour or two. The evening sun was already showing at least.

"Damnit, this place is _huge_."

"Heh, you could say that. Then again, it wasn’t _always_ like this…"

"Huh, what do you mean, Keishima-san?" Yomika asked.

"It’s, well, how do I describe it? It’s like this school…expanded, you know? Certain lines have expanded outwards, created areas that didn’t use to exist. This building we’re going, it didn’t exist before, ya know?"

"Okay, that’s…weird." I said.

"Well, we are, for all intents and purposes, ghosts. A distortion like that isn’t that comparatively unusual, ya know, Shimiko?"

"I told you, my name is Natsume Kouko, not Shimiko!"

"Relax! You’re the newly fledged Shimigami of the game, so you’re Shimiko! Trust me, just add a –ko or a –ka or a –ri and you’ve instantly created an adorable girl in name and body!" With the way Keishima-kun was laughing as he spoke, I wasn’t sure if he was being friendly or intentionally trying to piss me off. If it was the latter though, he sure was doing an excellent job.

"Ke-Keishima-san, what you said just there…d-do you think my name is cute?" Yomika stammered.

"Well, of course it is!" Keishima-kun patted Yomika on the head.

"EHHHH!!?" Yomika stood there, her face a florescent pink.

"Well, we should just about…there we go!"

"Huh, Keishima-kun? What is it?"

"We found our place!" Keishima-kun gave a big grin on his face. Peeking out from among the woods was a single two-story building, it’s drab exterior sinking into the darkness itself.

"So, this is the place? Jeese, it’s pretty drab…"

"What do you expect? These are storage buildings, There are tons of them across campus." Keishima-kun waltzed into the building, whistling to himself.

Following in behind Keishima-kun, I walked into the dark, dusty room and pressed my hand to the wall, feeling for a lightswitch. Eventually switching the lights on, I saw the room was a simple, dusty compartment filled with boxes. The only other thing of note was single staircase leading upwards.

"Wow, it’s even more of a dump from the inside…"

"Eh, doesn’t matter. Just follow me and we can get the files, ya know?" Keishima-kun began ascending the stairs. Following him some more, I reached the top of the stairs and saw that it lead into a hallway, the windows on the right. The dim atmosphere created a lonely feeling.

"Okay then, where do we go from here?"

"There’s another staircase in this place that leads down to the file room. We just need to find that and its mission complete." Keishima-kun responded.

"Who the hell builds a building like that!?"

"Who knows? I didn’t build this place after all." Keishima-kun continued to walk down the hallways. After walking a distance down the hallway, Keishima-kun stopped and opened the door at the far end.

"Well? Ladies first!" Keishima-kun stood there, the door handle in his grip.

"Keishima-san…I’ll…stay here, okay? I mean, it’s important to keep lookout, right?" Yomika stammered.

"Really? Thanks."

"I-I-It’s nothing…really…" Yomika’s face turn a near volcanic shade of red. At this point, either Keishima-kun was deliberately ignoring her for whatever reason, or he is the densest mammal to ever exist.

"All right, Shimiko, follow me!" Keishima-kun laughed and went down the stairs. So much for "ladies first".

"I told you, my name is _not_ Shimiko!" I responded, hurrying down the stairs. The room at the bottom was with bookshelves holding what looked to be important files.

"What? You’re a reaper, so Shimiko’s perfect!"

"But it, I don’t know, it, it sounds like I’m some kind of corpse or something…"

"Really? Well, if that’s how it is…" Keishima-kun began ruffling through the shelves.

"So, Keishima-kun, I’ve been meaning to ask…what’s being a detective like? I mean, you said that’s your talent…"

"Well, guess I should tell then." Keishima-kun turned around and took out his wallet, revealing a card with his face on it. "Keishima Harune of the Detective Library, Rank 652."

"The Detective Library…?"

"Japan’s official house of detectives! It has, like, 10, 000 members registered."

"10, 000!? That’s…a lot… "

"Yeah. Hopes Peak Academy tends to get a prodigy detective every year or two, ya know? My dad was a detective himself, so I was able to get in early."

"Huh, sounds like you had pretty easy then."

"Not really. Actually, it be more accurate to say I’m utterly terrified."

"What? Being terrified…doesn’t sound like you."

"Seriously, it’s true. My first, it was as part of a group investigating a cult was present within Japan. When we finally tracked down one of their headquarters, the stuff I saw in there left me on the verge of throwing up. It…wasn’t a good first impression, to be blunt."

"Then why’d you stay a detective?"

"Simple, my father. Not long after I started, my father…was murdered. Turns out he had taken a bribe for a case and out of revenge was murdered by an organization. Everyone shunned him after it was outed, but always believed he was a good man. Because of that, I stayed. _I stayed for my father’s will._ If I become Triple-Zero Class, the highest possible rank at the Library, I’ll have achieved that. I’ll have achieved everything."

"Wow…that’s some story. Guess you’re actually not bad."

"Eh, I’m not that great. After all, there’s someone here who’s better than me. Then again, we won’t be seeing her."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I know she’s still alive."

"How do you know that?! Couldn’t she just have just been killed here and you never knew about it?"

"She wouldn’t die. That girl, she has the ambition that would prevent her from dying. If she wills it, she’ll do it. And there’s _nothing_ that’ll stop her."

"Wow, sounds like someone I’d like to meet someday…"

"Trust me, she’s amazin-ah! Found it!" Keishima-kun took a heavy looking binder with papers inside of, before tossing it to me.

"Umph!" I caught the binder in my hands. "So, I guess we can go now?"

"Not quite yet."

"Why? I mean, we have what we came for…"

"This school has files on everything. I just need to see if the files on the stuff I want myself is here." Keishima-kun resuming looking through the shelves.

"What are talking about?"

"You know how there’s a big increase in "Psycho Crime" as the media calls it? It seems something called the "New Riser Incident" that occurred around the time me and most of the student were born kickstarted this whole thing. All I’ve been able to uncover was that it was it huge incident and that some guy named Zetsuharu Fujisaka was involved along with the school were involved. If I find something here, it’s an instant breakthrough."

"So that’s it?"

"There’s one more thing. The thing that will get me a big boost in progression. _Murasaki Shirou._ "

"Who the hell is Murasaki Shirou-"

BANG!!!

My words were suddenly cut off as a loud gunshot sound pierced to the air.

"What the hell was that!?"

"Something bad!" Keishima-kun immediately stopped going through the shelves and rushed up the stairs.

 _"This is bad."_ I rushed up the stairs after Keishima-kun and, once getting to the top, turned right to see what had happened. Lying on the ground, slumped to the wall opposite a shattered window, was Yomika, her blazer bloodied with what appeared to be in the darkness a bullet hole. Scattered across the wall was shards of glass.

"Yomika…"

"Shit! They’re onto us!"

"Huh? What are you-"

"Shimiko, get out of the way!" Keishima-kun suddenly cut me off as he suddenly pushed me out of the way. Where I once stood suddenly was what looked like a long chain whip that had smashed through the window. Within seconds, an armoured figure clad in cream white and flame red leapt through the air and came through the window, landing perfectly on their feet.

"Well, it’s good to see ya, Hime."

"Quit the friendly talk, Keishima. Goofing off isn’t going to save you." The speaker was a husky voiced female who spoke with "Boku" as if she were a guy.

"Who’s saying I’m goofing off? I mean, I’ve got a commitment here. Shimiko, you might want to stand back." Keishima-kun grinned and cracked his fingers. "Dominus, Activate!"

Within seconds, the armoured figure leapt backwards as a miniature explosion suddenly appeared. Keishima-kun grinned and, with a click of his fingers, another explosion was felt emitting from the adjacent wall, the figure leaving out the wall to her right.

"Who the hell was that!?"

"That’s Hime. **She’s a member of the Shachi.** Shimiko, run! I’ll hold them back!"

"Wa-what!? You’re asking me to run off without you!?"

"The Shachi are way stronger than you could ever be right now! Seriously, if you fight them, you’ll be shredded!"

"What, and you’re going to fight them by yourself!?"

"I have experience and you have the files! Do you want to die or not!?"

I gritted my teeth in response to Keishima-kun’s words. He was right. I needed to survive. "All right…you win." I shook my head before running off, the folder in my hands.

~

Keishima Harune watched Natsume Kouko run off into the darkness before he resumed thinking about the scenario at hand. First thing he did was check his watch, which he had tied to his left wrist.

It read 19: 55 on the point.

Grabbing the frame of the window, Keishima leapt out into the air and landed feet-first on the soft soil. Normally this would have been a risky move, the human body would easily shatter a bone had it suffered an impact from anything more than two meters. However, this was not a normal world. Here, the strength of human was about 1.5 as powerful, while the rate it recovered from non-lethal wounds had at least doubled. As a result, it stood to reason that the durability of the human body had increased in the same way. The fact that the school grounds were covered in soft soil assisted as well in cushioning the fall.

"So, anyone here? Come on, Hime, I know there’s more from that. What do you take me as, an idiot?" He spoke into the darkness.

Keishima tensed himself, readying his Release. His Release, Dominus, was a unique one, granting him the ability to spread around clay bombs which he could detonate at will. It was a surprising one given his deductive mind but, as his tested his capabilities, he agreed that an unorthodox Release like such fit him perfectly.

"Well, it just had to be you, didn’t it?" He may have been clad head to foot in silver armour, but Keishima smiled, knowing far too well the face behind the suit. It was Kintoki, the Shachi member of whom he had clashed with several times before.

"Oh come on, I don’t _really_ want to do this, you know? I mean, this whole game isn’t my thing…." Kintoki scratched the back of his head in disgruntlement. He was always like this. Always lazy and trying get out of work his superiors wanted of him.

"Well, I think…" Keishima grinned. "…that makes us a perfect match!"

Keishima tossed a bomb down to the ground and watched as Kintoki evaded the subsequent detonation. Pressing his foot against a nearby tree, Kintoki pushed off and rushed at Keishima. Keishima smiled and, in a single motion, dodged the attack.

"That’s the best you’ve got?" Keishima threw another bomb, this one aimed squarely at Kintoki’s feet. Kintoki braced himself as he hopped backwards. Within seconds, the bomb detonated, sending him back several feet.

"What, do you think you can pierce me?" Kintoki spat. Keishima glared in response. Kintoki, while lazy, was still dangerous due to his powerful Release, which granted him armour which made him nigh-invulnerable to many attacks.

 _"There’s no way stopping this guy externally. If only I had some way of immobilizing him…"_ Keishima erratically swerved, evading a punch thrown by Kintoki. Kintoki, turned and, delivered a hook to Keishima’s gut. Keishima suddenly recoiled in pain before landing on the ground, panting.

Keishima quickly went through the options in his mind. He was in danger, Kintoki’s defence enabled him to ignore much of Domius’ strengths and Keishima himself was going to eventually tire from the duel. He had to think of something quickly.

"Something…I need something to give me the advantage here…got it."

"Go to hell!!" Kintoki leapt into the air and slammed his foot into where Keishima once stood. "What the hell? Where the hell-"

"Gotcha!" Keishima, having swerved to Kintoki’s behind, rushed forwards and, in a single swift motion, released an explosive that immediately detonated on Kintoki’s chest. The explosion flung Kintoki into air, ending as he slammed into a tree.

"What, that supposed to hurt?" Kintoki said, picking himself up.

"Might want to look up." Keishima grinned.

"Huh-" Kintoki was cut off as Keishima clicked his finger and, on prompt, an explosion was heard, followed by a tree subsequently falling on Kintoki.

"Geese, after all that effort, it’s amazing you fell for such an obvious trick like that." Keishima walked up to Kintoki, still armoured with half of his body trapped a tree.

"What the hell did you…"

"What, while you coming at me, I merely just placed a bomb around the tree and suckered you in close. Really, it was cinch…" The minute Keishima finished speaking, he turned around to see a Mask coming at him with a spiked baseball bat. Smirking, Keishima raised his hand and fired a bomb which, upon connecting with the Mask’s body, detonated and blew him in half.

"Honestly, this is getting to easy. Wish I could-"

Keishima was cut off as he suddenly felt a great pain in his cut. Looking down, he saw, sticking out at an unnatural angle from his left, a tree branch soaked in blood.

"Didn’t I tell you I couldn’t be pierced?"

~

Urashiwa stood around in a clearing, tapping his foot on the soil. A few hours ago, he and his team had learnt of a group that were heading to one of the storage buildings located on the outskirts of the land for the Reserve Course. With that, Urashiwa and the Shachi had gone out to track down that group.

"So, got any more signals?" Urashiwa asked.

"Nothing yet." A girl with brown twintails responded, clutching a spoon in her hands.

"Got one of them boss. Looks like the others the others went on ahead though." A boy wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses that obscured his eyes leapt down from the trees.

"When do those two get back?"

"We’ve returned, commander." A straight-faced girl with dark hair in a hime cut excited the bushes. Following her was a boy with blond hair akin to that of a delinquent, carrying a bloodstained student with brown hair.

"Good to see the two of you are okay. And you brought something…extra to boot."

"Eh, he wasn’t that bad." The boy scratched the back of his head.

"Lemme guess, you won by dumb luck, didn’t you?" The girl with brown hair sneered.

"Shu-shut up!" The boy shouted back.

"Be quiet you two. We have more important matters here…" Urashiwa approached the injured Keishima and kneeled down in front of him.

Keishima, still delirious from blood lose, lifted his head. "So, it’s good to see you, Urashiwa. This is an interesting scenario to meet in, isn’t it?"

"Keishima Haurne, isn’t it? I’ve heard a fair amount of things about you."

"Well, yeah, that is my name. Have to say, I don’t know the names of any of your teammates, you know? Could you give them?"

"That’s…something we agreed to not give. Okay?"

"Well then, guess I should ask a different question then. Why…is all this happening?"

"What do you mean?"

"What’s your goal? What are you as Reservers aiming to do."

"Oh, that? Why, picture it like that, Keishima. We, the students of the Reserve Course, exist as the trash to all those others who exist here. For our existence, we live to punish those who believe in that. It is our existence…" Urashiwa showed a demonic glint in his eyes. " _…as the Shachi."_

"What the-" Keishima’s words were interrupted as Urashiwa raised his leg and, in a blink of an eye and a sickening splat sound, kicked Keishima’s head right off. Keishima’s corpse dropped to the ground, blood flowing from the stump that was once his neck.

"Well, that’s Keishima finished. Guess we should go back now?" The boy with sunglasses said, glancing at the corpse.

"Guess we should. Damn…saying that rhotic is downright _painful._ " Urashiwa shook his head.

"Well, it should be expected in this case, commander." The girl with dark said. "It’s your position as leader after all."

"Yeah, I guess so…"

~

Elsewhere, while the death of Keishima was occurring, Yuuya, Kira and Madarai were standing, watching over the events that had transpired from a rooftop through binoculars.

"Well, there’s Harune-kun dead. Shame, I liked him." Kira said.

"You’re as dismissal as ever, Ootsumeiko." Madarai rolled his eyes.

"Well, this is just part this "game" isn’t it? Who’s to say I shouldn’t act this way?"

"Well, as long as we believe in each other, I’m sure we’ll make it out of this!" Yuuya shouted.

"Exactly, and as a result, I’m sure you’ll make the perfect body shield, Yuuya-kun!"

"Kira-chan!"

"None of this affects you, does it?" Madarai asked.

"Well, of course not. For a girl like me, the life of mundane school is the unnatural world. For me, _this is normality._ You get my drift?" Kira smiled.

"That’s…not normal." Yuuya said.

"Well, I’d say this whole world is pretty weird. I mean, our emperor is a little kid and our prime minister a former assassin!"

"That latter point isn’t confirmed, Ootsumeiko."

"It totally is, Isshiki-kun! Next you’ll be telling me that vampires aren’t real!"

"For the last time, Ootsumeiko, vampires _aren’t real._ "

"They so are! Geese, you need to spread out more."

"So, um, Kira-chan? So, what are we doing next?" Yuuya asked.

"Well, you know about the rumoured potential of that girl? Well, I think we have a perfect direction to go in from there…" Kira pointed outwards to the sky, a passion in her eyes.

"We just have to kill that little girl!"

**Character Profiles:**

**Urashiwa Kaoru:** **  
** Birthday: January 31  
Height: 179cm **  
** Hopes Peak Academy Reserve Course: 6th Year **  
** Family: ???  
Release: ???  
Likes: Yakisoba, His Family  
Dislikes: Loneliness, Despair **  
** Description: A hot-headed delinquent type and member of the Reserve Course. Due to the poor state of his family, he is often taking on part-time jobs.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Keishima's dropping a DRK reference in his backstory. Those familiar with the plot might be able to guess what killed his father XP


	7. Chapter 1-4: The Wolf, The Cat, The Snake-The Killer Trio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hyped for all the new DR stuff! Sorry this took so long again, I was caught in some very stressful real-life matters which thankfully have nearly concluded.

"Wake up, wake up, sleepy head!"

My eyes opened hearing those words. Lifting my head, I saw that the speakers were the twins. Neko was sitting on my bed, while Kero was pacing around the room.

"How did you two get into here?"

"Simple! We went through the door!" Neko answered.

"Isn’t my door locked?"

"Well, as it happens, I am a master lockpick!" Neko grinned demonically as she held up a thin piece of wire.

"Okay then, why are you here?"

"Simple yet again, we have come to inform you that **Harune-kun is dead!** "

I felt the blood drain from my body as I heard Neko’s answer. "Keishima-kun…is dead?"

"Yep, Kaoru-kun kicked his head clean off! Have to say, it was utter mess to clean up!" Neko responded, a hint of sadism in her voice.

"So…Yomika…?"

"Um, what’s a Yomika?" Kero asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"…I don’t know how to respond to that."

"Hey, what’s this?" Kero walked over and picked up something.

"He-hey, get off that!" I grabbed the folder Kero picked up. No way was I going to let him run off with what Keishima-kun died for.

"Hey, have you read that?" Neko asked.

"No…actually. I went to sleep the minute I got back here. Guess I should give it a read…" I laid the folder out and began to read the contents.

~

Talent, the Concept Which Brings Hope to the World:

Formally written by Head of Talent Research Dr Nisekawa Akihito and approved by Talent Executive Head Tatsumiya Toyotomi.

To begin with I will say with this report that the architecture of Hopes Peak Academy has changed considerably over the 78th year since the advent of Kirigiri Jin's-

(Page too damaged to read.)

The Judgement of Talent:

To start with, it appears I must make something clear. The idea of "talent" is a fluid concept. On the base it is divided into two perspectives, "those who have great skill" and "those who have skill above other individuals". With these parameters in mind, I organised an official grading system to be used in my studies, grading the individual talent from the ranks C to SSS. The students graded C will be considered candidates for expulsion.

To give a demonstration of my studies, I give the example of the latest class, Class 78-A. This class is noted to be a "special", in due part to the presence of Headmaster Kirigiri’s estranged daughter.

****

**STUDENT ID#**

|  ****

**TALENT**

|  ****

**GRADING**  
  
---|---|---  
  
Ishimaru Kiyotaka

| 

Hall Monitor

| 

S  
  
Fukawa Touko/Genocider Syo

| 

Writer/Serial Killer

| 

S/SS*  
  
Maizono Sayaka

| 

Idol

| 

S  
  
Asahina Aoi

| 

Swimmer

| 

S  
  
Yamada Hifumi

| 

Doujin Author

| 

B  
  
Kuwata Leon

| 

Baseball Player

| 

S  
  
Naegi Makoto

| 

Good Luck

| 

?**  
  
Kirigiri Kyouko

| 

Detective

| 

S  
  
Oowada Mondo

| 

Gang Leader

| 

A  
  
Enoshima Junko

| 

Gyaru

| 

A?***  
  
Fujisaki Chihiro

| 

Programmer

| 

SS  
  
Oogami Sakura

| 

Martial Artist

| 

SS  
  
Togami Byakuya

| 

Heir

| 

SS  
  
Hagakure Yasuhiro

| 

Fortune Teller

| 

A  
  
Yasuhiro Taeko

| 

Gambler

| 

S  
  
Ikusaba Mukuro

| 

Solider

| 

SS  
  
*Student possesses split personality with separate talents. Should she develop the ability to control this, she has the most powerful talent of Class 78-A.  
**Student has a mysterious nature that makes his talent level difficult to grade. Further studies will be required.  
***Seemingly A grade talent, but her demeanour implies that there’s something more to her. Further studies required.

Luck Factor

One of the more curious concepts purposed by Headmaster Kirigiri is the concept of "Luck". It was an occasional event where, for a fee, normal high schoolers could enter a lottery where they could become a Super High School Level student. It was made an annual event after the induction of Kirigiri Jin as headmaster.

Headmaster Kirigiri has said, against the admission of the Steering Committee, the Good Luck is a legitimate talent. In his eyes, a student with Good Luck allows them to win lotteries with high frequency, gain more favourable outcomes come luck based events and generally gain good conditions through what would be pure chance.

In researching these circumstances, I ran a test with the Good Luck of the 75th year (Sarujima Kyousei) and another student of Super High School Level talent, where a placed a coin under one of five identical cups and ran five test rounds with each student. The results, assuming neither student was cheating, was 4/5 for the Good Luck student and 2/5 for the other student, which seems to validate Kirigiri’s hypothesis.

Extending the theorem further, is not impossible that other students possess Luck Factor as well? To give an example, the Super High School Level Fortune Teller Hagakure Yasuhiro is known for having a 20% guarantee on his fortunes. Is it not possibly that he possesses Luck Factor (I unfortunately couldn’t run a test out of danger of Hagakure bankrupting me). Similarly, the Gambler, Yasuhiro Taeko, could her supposed "talent" in gambling be merely a few lucky draws?

It seems, from the tests I run, that "Luck Factor" is at least some degree of real. However, Good Luck might not be an entirely appropriate term to use. From this point onwards, official documents from me will list "Good Luck" as a "Distortion of Fate".

~

...That’s it?

"What is this? There are only two documents here…"

"Wait, what’s that you’re reading?" Neko walked up to me and peered down towards the pages. "Oh, now I get it!"

"Huh?"

"It’s Dr Nisekawa’s work! Bro, you remember what we did with this, don’t you!?"

"Well yeah!" Kero responded, a light chuckle in his voice. " **We tore it up!** "

"You…tore it up? Why in the world did you two do that?"

The pair suddenly stood up straight and ran other to each other, raising their figures to their lips. "It’s a secret!" They said in perfect union, grins plastered across their faces.

"GIHIHIHIHIHI!!" The twins laughed as they run out of my room, seemingly oblivious to the world around them.

~

"What the hell do you mean there’s almost nothing!?"

Matsuda slammed his fist into the table. I knew he wasn’t going to be happy, but I didn’t except him to be _this_ mad.

"Um…sorry." I apologised, limply eating my breakfast.

"It’s…it’s nothing…" Matsuda gripped his face and shook his head. "I just can’t believe Keishima got killed for three pages…"

"I know…I’m sorry…"

"Stop apologising. You…didn’t do anything wrong. Maizono, do you anything on what’s going on?"

"Not much, unfortunately. He’s killed another student, if you’re curious…" Maizono responded, shaking her head.

"Goddamnit, this is just getting worse by the minute…"

"Mamae, m thin." Reika-san began speaking to me, her mouth full and pancakes before she swallowed. "Natsume-chan, did you find anything curious about those files?"

"No? Not really. Matsuda-kun, do you know anything about the writer of these files?"

"Dr Nisekawa…he was the head of Talent Research. He was a former student himself, in fact. I worked with him a few times…he’s not here anymore." Reika-san’s ears perked as Matsuda-kun finished his sentence. Odd, I didn’t take her to be interested in this…

"Huh, that’s…not much, huh?"

"Um, Natsume-san?" My thoughts were cut off by a familiar voice. Turning my head, I saw Maika-sensei entering the room.

"Ma-Maika-sensei! What are you doing here?"

"I…I wanted to talk to you, Natsume." Maika-sensei began approaching the table I was sitting at.

"What are you talking about?" Matsuda asked.

"Natsume, can you come with me?" Maika-sensei asked.

"Um…why?"

"I’ll explain." Maika-sensei began walking out of the room, gesturing me to follow her.

"Okay…" Stuffing the last of my breakfast into my mouth, I got up and ran after Maika-sensei.

~

"Sensei, wait up!"

I ran down the hallway after Maika-sensei, who had been walking down the hallway in what appeared to a hurry.

"What is this all about!? Seriously you just took off…"

"I…needed to talk to you alone." Maika-sensei suddenly froze in place. "Natsume…are you satisfied with existing?"

"I…don’t get your question."

"Here, right now, are you happy with how things are? Do…do you want to go back?"

"Considering that this is death game, I can’t of _anyone_ who’d want to be here, psychos aside. Besides, I don’t have memories, so any sort of sentiment like that is kinda lost…"

"Wait, you lack memories?"

"Yeah, I woke a few days ago in Matsuda-kun’s lab remembering absolutely nothing. Didn’t even know my name until he showed it to me."

"According to Ranpo, your name is written bizarrely. How did you know it’d be read like that?"

"Don’t know. Guess it just…occurred to me."

"Huh, Natsume, how about we go to the file room and see if you have a file there?"

"Okay. I don’t really care currently about my memories right now but, if you want to…"

"Well then, follow me." Maika-sensei began walking off. Following behind her silently, it wasn’t long before we entered a large room stacked with files, akin to the one me and Keishima-kun entered the day prior.

"It should be here somewhere." Maika-sensei started going through the files spread across the shelves.

"Sensei, a question, what’s Shirogane-sensei like to you?"

"Ranpo? He’s…a good person. Eccentric, flamboyant and a tad arrogant, but he’s a good person, okay?" Maika-sensei responded with a saddened voice. What was this about?

"Hey, Mai-"

My words were cut off as I heard a rumbling in the corner of the room.

"What was-"

Within seconds, the shelve closest to the wall suddenly toppled over and a black shape suddenly leapt out from the exposed blackness. Almost instinctively, I reached downwards and grabbed my combat knife. Leaping back, I looked at the figure standing in the middle of room. Corpse like flesh, long pitch-black hair, a traditional boys uniform…it was unmistakably Jakkun.

"Impossible…you died…"

"Ah, I guess you could I did. Then again we’ve all died, haven’t we?"

"Bu-but you can’t just come back like that!?"

"It doesn’t matter! I am Madarai Isshiki, Super High School Level Bodyguard and Treasuer of the Student Council! Natsume Kouko, you may have escaped our clutches on our prior encounter, but this shall be your end!"

As soon as Jakkun finished his sentence, I braced myself as he lunged at me. Ducking down, I saw as an overheard kick came hurtling in on me. Darting to the side, Jakkun’s leg struck the shelve behind me, sending documents flying. Sidestepping, my hand braced my knife as I leapt at Jakkun’s back, intending slice right into his cold flesh.

"Predictable."

My eyes opened as I suddenly felt an impact in my gut throw me across the room. My body was flung into the wall and slumped down on the ground.

"You may now have an understanding of this world, but you still underestimated me. **I, Madarai Isshiki, shall deliver you the techniques of the Hazumaki clan that my Sensei gifted upon me! Supreme Technique, Ryuuame!"**

Jakkun rushed forwards and, in one fell swoop, grabbed my gut with his foot and backflipped, tossing me into the air. This was bad, if he caught me, I knew for a fact I’d be in for a world of hurt. I just…

"00/13, Activate!"

In a single motion, an impact was felt as my body slammed to the ground. While I still hadn’t gained good control of it, I wasn’t going to lose to Jakkun.

"Ah, so you brought out the Reaper Release. Very impressive, Natsume Kouko." Jakkun clutched his bleeding left arm. "Now, this is starting to-AHH!!"

Jakkun suddenly collapsed, revealing Maika-sensei standing, a taser in her hands.

"Maika-sensei…"

"No talk, Natsume. Follow me!" Without saying another word, Maika-sensei turned and ran out of the room. Breathing heavily, I took off running after her. Hurrying down the hallway, I turned right and entered a larger room. Standing in the centre of the room, a cat perched on her shoulders and a grin plastered across her face, was Ootsumeiko Kirara.

"You too!?"

"Hah, looks like Isshiki-kun couldn’t take you down. Well, prepare to see the majesty of the great Ootsumeiko Kirara-chan!" Kira-chan smirked and suddenly reached into his vest, taking out a single handgun.

"A handgun!?"

"Take this!" Kira-chan contorted her hand and fired a trio of bullets into the air. Rushing forwards, I braced myself as I lunged my knife at Kira-chan’s gut. My senses were cut off as I suddenly heard a clashing sound and, looking down, saw that Kira-chan had deflected my attack with a knife of her own. I jumped backwards, avoiding her overhead attack. Chuckling, Kira-chan smirked and backflipped into the air, floating down to the far edge of the room with her parasol.

"You’re fast!"

"Well, that’s just me, ain’t it? Yuuya-kun, come in and show us what you got!" Kira-chan’s eyes glinted.

"Awesome, it’s my turn!" From one of the entrances to the room, Yuuya-kun entered, shaking his head. Looking at him, his hair was visibly wet, and he now had a distinctive streak of white coming down to his bangs.

"Trying out the visual kei look, Yuuya-kun?" Kira-chan snickered.

"Ki-Kira-Chan!" Yuuya-kun’s face turned bright red.

"You…do realise I’m here?" I rolled my eyes in response to the twos bickering.

"Ah, yeah." Yuuya-kun sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well, guess I’ve got to put it to use then. All right, Mikado, Activate!"

A large metal broadsword with a blue hilt suddenly appeared in Yuuya-kun’s hands. Within seconds, Yuuya-kun slammed his sword into the ground and wave of ice came hurtling across the ground, tossing me and Maika-sensei to the side.

"Ootsumeiko, Shingami, good to see you’ve arrived." Jakkun suddenly entered the room from where we came in.

"Isshiki-kun! Yep, me and Yuuya-kun have these two in the heat!"

"What the…you three…"

"Ah, everyone’s perfect!" Kira-chan squealed, pointing her gun at me. "Witness, as the Three Beasts of Hopes Peak Academy bring the girl known as The Reaper down!"

"I’m...not…going…to…" I spoke through grit teeth, tightening the grip on my knife.

"Natsume, you have no chance to survive here. _We run._ No questions asked." Maika-sensei suddenly gave me a tight and firm press on the shoulder. She was right. I could barely even right Jakkun. Three of them…I’d be slaughtered.

"Okay." Without another word, me and Maika-sensei took off running. I ran down the hallway and turned at the intersection, rushing up the stairs.

"AFTER THEM!!" I heard Jakkun shout down the hallway. The three of them, they were catching up!

"Natsume, the science lab!" Maika-sensei shouted, pointing towards a room with its entrance closed and windows covered by blinds.

Maika-sensei rushed into the room ahead of me. Darting in myself as Maika-sensei shut and bolted the door, I saw that it was indeed a science lab, full of the sort of equipment I’d probably be terrible at using. That said, there didn’t seem to be an escape of any kind. All there actually was a wind-

BANG!!!

I was cut off as gunshot came hurtling through the window behind us. Maika-sensei collapsed, her shirt bloodstained.

"Se…Sensei…"

"It’s…nothing…" Maika-sensei stood up, clutching her bleeding breast. She limped slowly to the window and, breathing heavily, clicked open the window.

"Sensei…what are you doing…?"

"Letting…you…escape…"

"Bu-but we’re on the fourth floor! There’s no way-"

"Your Release will save you. I’m sure of it."

"Bu-but you…I…save-" My words were cut off Maika-sensei delivered a swift smack to my cheak.

"I’m your teacher. It’s my duty to protect the students." Maika-sensei gave me a serene smile as she flashed a peace symbol. "Peace peace, okay?"

I stood still, contemplating, before I gave my response. "Okay. Sensei, thank you."

"Thank you too, Natsume." After nodding, I stepped forwards and, survival instinct kicking in, leapt out the window.

"00/13, Activate!"

As 00/13 came out, I suddenly felt an updraft of wind come up. My head was spinning, but as long I focused, it felt like I was falling in slow-mo. Eventually I landed, my body smacking into a bush.

Everything went black.

~

After an intense chase of cat and mouse, the match of Natsume Kouko’s fifth day concluded as Ootsumeiko Kirara kicked down the door of the science lab.

"All right, we’ve got you corner-WHA!?"

Kira lowered her handgun as she checked the contents of the lab. Almost nothing had been altered in the room. Almost nothing…except the woman slumped down against the opposing wall.

"Huh, that’s weird. Reaper girl just up and vanished…"

"That is odd, Ootsumeiko." Madarai walked into the room. "It seems Natsme Kouko has alluded us…."

Yuuya, who had followed in behind the other two, paced up to woman and keeled down to her level. "Heads up, guys, she’s still breathing. She just passed out from blood loss."

"Interesting...that said, I’m more suspicious towards Natsume Kouko." Madarai responded.

"How so?"

"I felt and witnessed her Release. The energy that came from it…it was unnatural."

"You know, Isshiki-kun, for someone who says he doesn’t believe in what he can’t observe, you sure think about a lot of Zen philosophy, ya know?" Kira chirped up.

Madarai rolled his eyes. "If you say so."

"So, I guess then we should report to Murasame-kun?" Yuuya stood up, shaking his head.

"Phooey, just when it looked like we were uprooting a problem." Kira said. "Ya know, it be more fun if we went and did an all-out assault. Right, Yuuya-kun?"

"Su-sure…" Yuuya blushed.

"Ootsumeiko, thinking like that is going to get you killed. And don’t think about dragging Shingami in either."

"Spoilsport." Kira spat. "Anyway, you know how that Reaper girls getting known as Shimiko? Well, I just figured out the perfect given name for her."

"What?" Yuuya asked.

"Shinobu, the Heart Under Blade."

"Ootsumeiko, you got that from a light novel, didn’t you?" Madarai glanced at Kira.

"So what? If it fits, it fits. In this kinda world, it doesn’t matter, ya know? Surely after all the years we’ve known each other, you’d have understood how I see things…"

"If you say so…."

~

"Gihihihihihi…"

My eyes flickered into light upon hearing that laugh. Looking upwards, I saw Neko lying on a tree branch, grinning.

"What are you doing here…?"

"Why, Onee-chan, I came to laugh at you." Neko chuckled as she leapt to the ground.

"Laugh at me…?"

"Bro ran off to indulge in his weirdo hobbies, so I just decided to go and watch you. Seriously, you came crashing down!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, guess so. What happened?"

"The Student Council…were chasing me and Maika-sensei. Maika-sensei…was shot…she opened the window and told me to jump out…" My mind was in a rush to comprehend the events that had transpired. Everything…everyone…

"So, I guess then she gave you the ability to escape the death you were faced with?" My thoughts were cut off as Neko cut in with sharp words.

"I…I guess so…"

"Well then, that means she sacrificed herself to ensure you’d survive. Same with Harune-kun, isn’t it? They both died so you could live."

They what?

"As this game goes on, more people are going to get killed, you know? I wonder, how many will you kill, and how many will die so you can survive?"

Neko turned away from me, momentarily flashing her demonic grin.

"I hope like all what you’ll bring, **she who carries the talent as Super High School Level Shinigami."**

Neko took off running into the woods, laughing like she always did.

"I’m..what…?"

A Shinigami. That’s what Neko said. Was…was that my talent? A death god, one who brings death upon other. Was that my nature? I…couldn’t quite comprehend anything. Maika-sensei…died for me…

"Sensei…Sensei…SEEENSEEEEEIIIIIII!!!!"

My words cried in the sky, a silent despair unheard by even myself.

~

Matsuda paced into one of the classrooms. The computing lab, it was designed by Hopes Peak Academy for digital and computing talents. Since this "game" began, it had instead became the near permanent of the Super High School Level Programmer Fujisaki Chihiro. Fujisaki had, over the time the game had occurred, had become Matsuda’s primary source for information gathering.

"Fujisaki, have you found anything?"

"Not yet, sadly. Seems like the encrypted files have stopped, tough I haven’t decoded them yet…"

"Damnit!" Matsuda punched the wall in aggravation.

"I-It’s okay Matsuda-kun…"

"Hey, Matsuda, we’re back!" Turning around, Matsuda saw Kuwata and Maizono enter the room. Kuwata looked cheerful, swinging the baseball bat he had clutched in his hands around happily.

"Oh, you two. Found anything?"

"Not really? Seems Natsume’s been getting known as Shimiko, apparently?" Kuwata scratched his head.

"If I would, it seems another victim has been claimed." Maizono cut in.

Matsuda stood still, thinking to himself, before speaking again. "We do it."

"Huh?"

"We can’t let this bastard running around anymore! Tomorrow, we get everything tomorrow into motion!"

Matsuda slipped his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a scalpel, holding it out as if it were a deadly weapon.

"Tomorrow, we go forwards and end Tsuyoshi Sakata’s life!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Kira's quip at the about Natsume's nickname is a reference to Monogatari. "Shinobu" is a deliberate reference to that series, hence Madarai's quip.


End file.
